Division,. 
Section  • 

ass 

Mo,   


HISTORY  OF  EGYPT 

Vol.  V. 
ROMAN  RULE 


HISTORY  OF  EGYPT 

Under  Roman  Rule 


BY 

/ 

J.   GRAFTON   MILNE,  M.A. 

SOMETIME  SCHOLAR  OF  C.C.C.,  OXFORD 


WITH  NUMEROUS  ILLUSTRATIONS 


CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
153,  155,  AND  157  FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW   YORK  CITY 
1898 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/historyofegyptunOOmiln 


PREFACE 


It  may  seem  somewhat  premature  to  issue  a  History 
of  Roman  Eg-ypt,  when  there  are  masses  of  papyri, 
belonging  to  the  period  under  consideration,  waiting 
for  publication  in  half  a  dozen  different  museums.  But 
the  additions  to  our  knowledge  made  by  the  documents 
already  published  are  so  considerable,  that  it  will  be 
of  service  to  students  to  have  them  briefly  summarised. 

It  must  be  recognised  that  the  story  of  Egypt  during 
the  centuries  of  Roman  rule  is  not,  and  probably  never 
will  be,  anything"  like  a  connected  narrative.  From 
time  to  time  a  chance  notice  by  some  writer  throws  a 
momentary  light  on  the  state  of  the  country  ;  but,  for 
the  most  part,  events  in  Egypt  were  too  monotonously 
uninteresting  for  the  historians  of  the  Roman  Empire 
to  pay  any  attention  to  them.  Egypt  supplied  corn, 
not  men,  to  Rome. 

There  is  one  point  on  which  I  should  like  to  forestall 
criticism.  In  the  spelling  of  proper  names  and  titles, 
I  have  found  it  impossible  to  be  consistent  when  deal- 
ing with  the  mixture  of  Egyptian,  Greek,  and  Latin 
which  prevailed  during  the  period.  And  so  I  have 
used  whatever  form  was  most  familiar  to  me,  as  it 
seemed  better  even  to  write  the  Latinized  drachmae  " 
beside  the  Greek  "arourai,"  than  to  fall  into  the 
pedantry  of  such  a  style  as  "  Thebai "  ;  the  more  so, 


vt 


PREFACE 


when  it  is  necessary  to  deal  with  such  compound  names 
as  ^lius  Eudgemon  or  Aurelius  Didymus. 

I  have  to  thank  Professor  Petrie  for  continual  help 
and  advice  throughout  the  time  that  I  have  been 
preparing  this  book,  both  in  Egypt  and  in  England. 
Mr.  F.  G.  Kenyon  and  Mr.  B.  P.  Grenfell  have  most 
kindly  put  at  my  disposal  the  proof-sheets  of  their 
publications  of  papyri,  and  the  latter  has  also  made  a 
number  of  valuable  suggestions  ;  while  Mr.  F.  LI. 
Griffith  has  given  me  information  on  various  points 
connected  with  Egyptian  religion.  I  have  tried  to 
acknowledge  in  the  references  all  facts  and  ideas  which 
I  have  drawn  from  other  writers,  but  I  feel  that  I  owe 
a  special  debt  to  Professor  Mommsen  and  Professor 
J.  B.  Bury  in  a  wider  sense  than  can  be  stated  there. 
And  I  must  also  thank  Mr.  D.  S.  Crichton  for  much 
careful  work  in  preparing  the  index  ;  and  my  wife,  for 
constant  clerical  assistance. 


London,  13//^  Septeifiber  1898. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE    V 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS   ix 

LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS   xiii 

CHAP. 

I.  THE  ORGANISATION  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMANS  .  I 
II.   THE    FIRST    CENTURY    OF    ROMAN    RULE    IN  EGYPT, 

30  B.C. -68  A.D   15 

III.  A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY,  68-192  A.D.     .          .          .  39 

IV.  THE  DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM,  I93-283A.D.  67 
V.   THE     STRUGGLE     BETWEEN     THE     STATE     AND  THE 

CHURCH,   284-379  A.D   84 

VI.   ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY    OF    THE  CHRIS- 
TIAN CHURCH,  379-527  A.D   96 

VII.   UNION    OF    TEMPORAL   AND    RELIGIOUS    POWER,  527- 

642  A.D   106 

VIII.   THE  REVENUES  AND  TAXATION  OF  EGYPT    .          .          .  I18 

IX.   RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS   I28 

X.   LIFE  IN  THE  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES  OF  EGYPT             .  159 

APP. 

I.   THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT           ....  169 

II.  PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT   176 

III.  INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM         .          .          .  183 

IV.  NOTES   196 

V.   REFERENCES   23  T 

INDEX   249 

vii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG.  PAGE 

1.  Augustus  :  Temple  K,  Philse  ......  i6 

2.  Aug-ustus  adoring-  Isis  :  Tentyra    .        .        .        .        .  17 

3.  Philaj :  Temple  of  Hathor      .       .       .       .       .       .  17 

4.  Khnum  forming  Augustus,  and  Hekt  giving  him  life  : 

Tentyra   18 

5.  Talmis  :  Front  of  Temple       ......  18 

6.  Tentyra  :  Temple  from  the  south    ...  .19 

7.  Augustus  :  Talmis  ......  .20 

8.  Augustus  :  Debot   ......  .20 

9.  Talmis:  Temple  from  behind .       ...  .21 

10.  Dendur:  Temple     .......  .22 

11.  Pselkis  :  Temple  and  Pylon    ......  22 

12.  Hiera  Sykaminos :  Temple     ......  23 

13.  Tiberius :  Philae      ........  25 

14.  Philae  :  West  side  of  Great  Court  .....  25 

15.  Tentyra:  Portico  of  Temple.     (Photo,  by  W.  M.  F. 

Petrie.).       .........  26 

16.  Tiberius :  Philae      ........  27 

17.  Stele  of  Tiberius  adoring  Isis  and  Horus,  in  Ghizeh 

Museum.    (Photo  by  J.  G.  M.)   27 

iS.  Tiberius:  Phils      .  '   28 

19.  Caligula  :  Tentyra  ........  29 

20.  Alexandria  :  Ruins  of  the  Gymnasium.    (Ainslie,  Views 

in  Egypt.)   30 

21.  Claudius :  Philse      ........  32 

22.  Latopolis  :  Capitals  of  columns,    (Photo,  by  W.  M.  F. 

Petrie.)        .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  32 

23.  Hermopolis  Magna  :  Temple.  (Description  de  I'Egypte. )  33 

24.  Nero  :  Tentyra        ........  35 

25.  Karanis  :  Interior  of  Temple  of  Pnepheros  and  Petesou- 

chos.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.)   35 

26.  Nero  :  Ombos  .........  36 

27.  Karanis  :  Gateway  of  Nero  in  Temple  of  Pnepheros  and 

Petesouchos.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.)    .       .       .       .  37 
ix 


X 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG. 

28.  Galley  of  Nero.    (Bodleian.)  ..... 

29.  Galba  :  Thebes  ....... 

30.  Otho  :  Thebes  ....... 

31.  Karanis  :  Gateway  of  Vespasian  in  Temple  of  Pnepheros 

and  Petesouchos.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.)  . 

32.  Alexandria:  " Cleopatra's  Needle  "  and  Roman  tower, 

(Description  de  I'Eg-ypte.)  ..... 

33.  Roman  Stele  :  in  Ghizeh  Museum.    (Photo,  by  J.  G 

M.)  

34.  Titus  :  Latopolis  ....... 

35.  Domitian  :  Latopolis  ...... 

36.  Nerva  :  Latopolis  ....... 

37.  Trajan :  Latopolis  ....... 

38.  Philae  :  Temple  of  Trajan  ..... 

39.  Trajan  dancing- :  Tentyra  ..... 

40.  Tentyra  :  Gateway  of  Trajan  .... 

41.  Trajan  :  Philae  ....... 

42.  Roman  fortress  of  Babylon.    (Description  de  I'Eg-ypte. 

43.  Hadrian  :  Philae  ....... 

44.  Mummy  portrait  :  from  Hawara  .... 

45.  Statue  of  Antinous ?    (Vatican.)  .... 

46.  Antinoopolis :    Arch    of   Triumph.      (Description  de 

I'Egypte.)     .        .        .        .  . 

47.  Antinoopolis.    (Description  de  I'Eg-ypte. ) 

48.  Cartouche  of  Sabiiia  ...... 

49.  Hadrian  approaching- Alexandria.    (British  Museum. ) 

50.  Hadrian  g-reeted  by  Alexandria.    (British  Museum.) 

51.  Antoninus  Pius  :  Tentyra  ..... 

52.  Phoenix  :  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.  (Bodleian.) 

53.  Aurelius  :  Latopolis  ...... 

54.  Antaeopolis  :  Temple.    (Description  de  I'Egypte.) 

55.  Commodus :  Latopolis    .....  ' 

56.  Roman  tombstones  from  Abydos  :  in  Ghizeh  Museum 

(Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.)  

57.  Severus  :  Latopolis  ....... 

58.  Sev^erus  and  Julia  :  Latopolis  ..... 

59.  Caracalla  and  Geta  :  Latopolis  .... 

60.  Geta  :  Latopolis  ....... 

61.  Colossal  head  of  Caracalla  :  from  Koptos.    (Photo.  b\ 

W.  M.  F.  Petrie.)  

62.  Caracalla  :  Latopolis  ...... 

63.  Statue,  face  recut  to  likeness  of  Caracalla  :  In  Ghizeh 

Museum.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M. )  . 

64.  Wady  Khardassy  :  Greek  tablets  .... 

65.  Roman  lamp  in  form  of  a  boat.    (Petrie  Collection.) 

66.  Decius :  Latopolis 

67.  Inscription  of  Quietus  :  from  Koptos.  (Petrie  Collection 

68.  Coin  of  M.  lulius  .^milianus.    (British  Museum.) . 

69.  Miniature  altar.    (Petrie  Collection.) 


PAGE 

38 
39 
40 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG. 

70.  Altar   of  M.    Aurelius    Belakabos :    from  Koptos. 

(Photo,  by  \V.  M.  F.  Petrie.)       •     .  . 

71.  Roman  terra-cotta  figures     (Petrie  Collection.)  . 

72.  Philae  :  Arch  of  Diocletian  ...... 

73.  Roman  lamps  and  handles.    (Petrie  Collection.)  . 

74.  Coin  of  Domitius  Domitianus.    (British  Museum. ) 

75.  Column  of  Diocletian  at  Alexandria  .... 

76.  Roman  lamp  in  form  of  a  gateway.    (Petrie  Collection. ) 

77.  The  Red  Monastery  :  Interior  looking  west.  (Photo. 

byj.  G.  M.)  .       .       .  \ 

78.  The  White  IMonasterv :  North  door.    (Photo,  by  J. 

G.  M.)       .       .    '  '  . 

79.  The  White  Monastery  :  South  wall.    (Photo,  by  J.  G. 

M-)  ■ 

80.  Byzantine  sculptures  :  from  Ahnas.    (E.E.F.  Report. ). 

81.  Byzantine  capital :  from  Ahnas.    (E.E.F.  Report.) 

82.  Coptic  tombstones  :  in  Ghizeh  INIuseum.    (Photo,  by 

W.  M.  F.  Petrie.)  

83.  Coptic  tombstones  :  in  Ghizeh  Museum.    (Photo,  by 

W.  M.  F.  Petrie.)  

84.  Designs  from  fragments  of  Coptic  pottery.  (Petrie 

Collection.)  ...... 

85.  Coptic  painted  potter}-.    (Petrie  Collection.) 

86.  Tariff-Stele  of  Koptos  :  in  Ghizeh  Museum.  (Photo. 

byJ.  G.  M.)  

87.  Stele  from  Soknopaiou  Nesos :  in  Ghizeh  Museum. 

(Photo  by  J.  G.  M.)  

88.  Column  with  figures  of  priests  :  at   Rome.  (Photo. 

by  W.  M.  F.  Petrie.)  

89.  Figure  of  Bes:  Tent^-ra.    (Photo.  byW.  M.  F.  Petrie.) 

90.  Phthah  :  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (British  Museum.)  . 

91.  Zeus  Ammon  :  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (British  Museum.)  . 

92.  Pantheistic  Zeus  Sarapis  :  Coin  of  Hadrian.  (British 

Museum.)  ......... 

93.  Temple  of  Zeus  :  Coin  of  Trajan.    (British  Museum. ) . 

94.  Zeus:  Coin  of  Trajan.    (British  Museum.)  . 

95.  Hera:  Coin  of  Nero.    (British  Museum. ) 

96.  Poseidon:  Coin  of  Claudius  II.    (British  Museum. ) 

97.  Kybele  :  Coin  of  Julia  Domna.    (British  Museum.) 

98.  Apollo:  Coin  of  Nero.    (British  Museum.)  . 

99.  Helios:  Coin  of  Hadrian.  (Bodleian.) 

100.  Artemis:  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.    (British  Museum. ) 

101.  Selene:  Coin  of  Julia  Paula.    (British  Museum.) . 

102.  Athene:  Coin  of  Gallienus.    (British  Museum.)  . 

103.  Temple  of  Athene  :  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.  (British 

Museum.)  ......... 

104.  Ares:  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (Bodleian.)   .        .        .  . 

105.  Dionysos  :  Coin  of  Trajan.    (British  Museum. ) 

106.  Pan:  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (British  Museum.) . 


xii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG.  PAGE 

107.  Hermes:  Coin  of  Claudius  II.    (British  Museum.)     .  138 

108.  Demeter  :  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.    (British  Museum. )  138 

109.  Rape    of    Persephone  :    Coin   of  Trajan.  (British 

Museum.)   .        .        .        .        .        .        .        ,  .138 

no.  Triptolemos  :  Coin  of  Hadrian.     (British  Museum. )    .  139 

111.  Dioskouroi :  Coin  of  Trajan.    (British  Museum. )        .  139 

112.  Herakles  :  Coin  of  Trajan,    (Bodleian.)      .        .        .  139 

113.  Asklepios :    Coin   of  Severus    Alexander.  (British 

Museum.)    .........  140 

114.  Hyg"ieia :  Coin  of  Severus  Alexander.  (British  Museum.)  140 

115.  Sarapis :  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (Bodleian.)      .        .        ,  140 

116.  Head  of  Sarapis.    (Plaque  in  Petrie  Collection.)  .        .  141 

117.  Temple  of  Sarapis:  Coin  of  M.   Aurelius.  (British 

Museum.)   .........  141 

118.  Sarapeion  and  Hadrianon.    (British  Museum.)    .        .  141 

119.  Sarapis:  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (British  Museum.)    .        .  142 

120.  Isis  and  Sarapis.    (Vatican  Museum.)  .        .        .        .  142 

121.  Temple  of  Isis  :  Coin  of  Trajan.    (British  Museum.)  .  143 

122.  Isis  Pharia  :  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.    (British  Museum. )  143 

123.  Isis  Sothis  :  Coin  of  Faustina  II.     (British  Museum.)  .  143 

124.  Isis:  CoinofNerva.    (Bodleian.)        ....  144 

125.  Isis  suckling  Horus  :  Coin  of  M.  Aurelius.    (Bodleian.)  144 

126.  Bronze  Sistrum  :  at  Naples.    (Photo,   by  W.  M.  F. 

Petrie.)       .........  144 

127.  Horus  as  a  child  in  military  dress.    (Terra-cotta  in 

Petrie  Collection.)      .......  145 

128.  Harpokrates  :  Coin  of  Trajan.    (British  Museum.)      .  145 

129.  Osiris  with  stars  :  from  Koptos.    (Photo,  by  W.  M.  F. 

Petrie.)       .........  146 

130.  Hermanubis  :  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (British  Museum. )   .  147 

131.  Temple  of  Hermanubis  :    Coin    of  Antoninus  Pius. 

(British  Museum.)      .......  147 

132.  Temple  of  Nilus  :  Coin  of  Hadrian.   (British  Museum. )  148 

133.  Nilus:  Coin  of  Nero.    (Bodleian.)       ....  148 

134.  Nilus:  Coin  of  Trajan.    (British  Museum.) .        .        .  148 

135.  Euthenia  :  Coin  of  Livia.    (British  Museum.)      .        .  148 

136.  Temple  of  Tyche  :  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.  (British 

Museum.)  ......        ...  150 

137.  Tyche:  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (British  Museum.)     .        .  150 

138.  Tyche  of  Alexandria  :  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.  (Brit- 

ish Museum.)      ........  150 

139.  Alexandria:  Coin  of  Hadrian.    (British  Museum.)      .  150 

140.  Roma:  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.    (British  Museum. )    .  150 

141.  Roma:  Coin  of  Antoninus  Pius.    (Bodleian.)      .        .  150 

142.  The  White  Monastery  :  Old  nave  of  church,  now  the 

courtyard.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.)      .        .        .  .156 

143.  The  White  Monastery :  Walled-in  columns  of  nave. 

(Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.)   157 


LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS  USED 


B.C.H.    .  ,  Bulletin  de  Correspondance  Hellenique. 

B.G.U.    .  ,  Griechische  Urkunden  aus  den  Kgl.  Museen  zu 
Berlin. 

B.  M.  .    .  .  British  Museum. 

C.  I.G.     .  .  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Graecarum. 
C.I.L.     .  .  Latinarum. 
C.P.R.    .  .  Papyrorum  Raineri. 
E.E.F.    .  .  Egypt  Exploration  Fund. 

G.G.P.  i.  .  Grenfell,  an  Alexandrian  Erotic    Fragment  and 

other  papyri. 

G.G.P.  ii.  .  Grenfell  and  Himt,  Greek  Papyri  ii. 

G.O.P.    .  .  ,,  Oxyrhynchus  Papyri. 

M.A.  .    .  .  Mus^e  d'Alexandrie. 

M.G.  .    .  .  Musee  de  Ghlzeh. 

N.  et  E.  .  .  Notices  et  Extraits  des  MSS.  du  Louvre. 

Pap.  Gen.  .  Papyrus  de  Geneve,  ed.  J.  Nicole. 

P.S.B.A.  .  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology. 

R.A.    .    .  .  Revue  Archt^ologique. 

R.E.    .    .  ,         ,,  Egyptologique. 

R.E.G.    .  .  des  Etudes  Grecques. 


A  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT 


ROMAN  EGYPT 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Organisation  of  Egypt  under  the  Romans 

1.  The  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Romans  produced 
little  change  in  the  internal  organisation  of  the  country. 
It  was  always  the  policy  of  Roman  statesmen,  when  a 
country  possessing  a  fully  developed  system  of  govern- 
ment was  added  to  their  empire,  to  interfere  as  littlq  as 
possible  with  existing  institutions  ;  and  there  was  a 
special  reason  in  the  case  of  Egypt  for  adopting  this 
course.  The  country  was,  in  a  sense,  the  personal 
spoil  of  Augustus  ;  while  the  older  provinces  of  the 
Roman  Empire  had  been  won  from  foreign  kings  for 
the  Republic  by  its  generals  and  with  its  armies,  Egypt 
was  the  fruit  of  his  victory  over  a  Roman  rival,  albeit 
a  recreant  to  Roman  ideas  ;  and,  as  the  personal  pro- 
perty of  that  rival's  wife,  was  confiscated  for  the  private 
benefit  of  the  victor. 

2.  The  elaborate  system  of  government  which  had 
gradually  been  developed  by  the  native  and  Greek 
kings  was  therefore  taken  over  bodily  by  the  Roman 
emperors.  In  all  probability  the  lower  grades  of 
officials  were  left  to  complete  their  terms  of  office : 
even  in  so  high  a  position  as  that  of  epistrategos  there 

V— I 


ORGAXISATIOX  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMAN'S 


is  found  a  Greek,  Ptolemaios,  the  son  of  Herakleides, 
thirteen  years  after  the  conquest ;  and  as  in  later 
times  that  post  was  always  held  by  a  Roman,  it  may 
be  presumed  that  he  had  continued  in  his  place  undis- 
turbed by  the  change  of  dynasty.  For,  indeed,  the 
Roman  conquest  of  Egypt  was  practically  nothing  more 
than  a  change  of  dynasty,  and  was  attended  by  far  less 
disturbance  than  had  many  times  been  caused  by  the 
transference  of  power  in  the  time  of  the  native  kings. 

3,  In  the  course  which  Augustus  chose  to  follow 
with  regard  to  the  government  of  Egypt,  he  was 
guided  partly  by  his  personal  claim  explained  above, 
and  partly  by  considerations  of  prudence  :  the  country 
was  rich,  and  could  easily  furnish  the  materials  for 
supporting  a  revolt  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  anyone 
who  held  Egypt  could  cause  great  inconvenience  to 
the  population  of  Rome  without  any  further  hostile 
measures  than  simply  stopping  the  export  of  corn  from 
Alexandria,  and  could  thus  practically  starve  Rome 
to  his  side,  as  \^espasian  proposed  to  do.(")  More- 
over, Egypt  was  difficult  of  access,  especially  from 
Rome  :  there  was  only  one  harbour  on  the  INIediter- 
ranean  coast  available  for  large  vessels,  at  Alexandria 
and  the  approaches  by  land  across  the  deserts,  either 
from  east  or  west,  were  dangerous  for  a  body  of  any 
large  number  of  men.  The  Egyptians,  too,  were 
always  ready  for  a  disturbance ;  the  most  trivial 
question  would  raise  faction-fights  among  the  crowds 
of  various  nations  and  beliefs  who  inhabited  Alex- 
andria,'^■^^  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  upper  country 
from  time  to  time  took  up  arms  to  settle  their  local 
grievances  ;  and  from  such  small  beginnings  there 
might  arise  serious  troubles,  unless  prompt  and 
vigorous  measures  were  taken.  In  all  these  reasons  lay 
a  great  argument  for  autocratic  rule,  which  could  act 
on  such  an  occasion  without  the  danger  of  delay  which 
might  arise  from  the  necessity  of  consulting  the  senate, 
purely  formal  as  the  consultation  might  be,  to  get  con- 
sent to  measures  which  seemed  good  to  the  emperor. 

4.  Egypt  was  therefore  treated  as  the  personal  domain 


THE  PREFECT 


3 


of  the  Roman  emperor ;  and  from  him,  directly  or 
indirectly,  all  the  Egyptian  officials  held  their  posts. 
To  guard  against  any  possibility  of  senatorial  inter- 
ference, no  member  of  the  senate  was  allowed  to  take 
office,  or  even  to  set  foot,  without  the  special  leave  of 
the  emperor,  in  the  country. The  highest  position — 
that  of  prefect  —  was  usually  filled  by  a  Roman  of 
equestrian  rank  ;  on  one  occasion  at  least  a  freed- 
man,^^)  and  on  one  an  Alexandrian, ^^"^^vho  had  obtained 
the  Roman  citizenship,  were  placed  in  this  office.  The 
prefect,  nominally  a  procurator  of  the  emperor,  v.^as 
really  a  viceroy,  taking  almost  the  whole  part  played 
in  the  system  of  government  by  the  Greek  kings.  His 
power  was  limited  only  by  the  right  of  appeal  to  the 
emperor ;  and  he  was  head  of  every  branch  of  the 
administration,  financial,  judicial,  and  military. The 
sum  -  total  that  was  to  be  raised  by  taxation  was 
determined  by  the  emperor  ;  but  the  prefect  was  re- 
sponsible to  him  for  the  collection  and  transmission 
of  the  money  to  Rome,<^'-)  and  consequently  was  par- 
ticularly concerned  to  supervise  the  collectors  and 
other  subordinate  officials,  with  a  view  of  keeping  in 
check  their  exactions,  which  tended  to  diminish  the 
revenues  of  the  state  and  also  had  to  decide  upon 
claims  of  exemption  from  taxation  made  by  commun- 
ities or  individuals. The  judicial  duties  of  the  prefect, 
which  theoretically  embraced  all  cases,  both  civil  and 
criminal,  were  lightened  by  the  delegation  of  authority 
to  lower  officials ;  (^^^  but  large  numbers  of  legal 
questions  came  before  him  for  settlement,  as  petitions 
for  the  redress  of  injuries  could  be  addressed  directly 
to  hinij^^*^)  and  he  received  appeals  or  references  from 
the  inferior  courts. He  went  on  circuit  throughout 
the  country,  probably  every  year,  to  try  such  causes. (^^^ 
He  was  also  specially  concerned  to  inquire  into  the 
efficiency  of  the  police  of  the  various  districts. (i^)  The 
nominations  to  subordinate  offices  and  liturgies,  and 
appeals  against  them,  also  came  before  him;^-^)  and 
from  him  emanated  the  orders  for  official  inquiries 
and  returns,  such  as  the  census  lists  of  persons  and 


4    ORGANISATION  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMANS 


property  of  all  kinds  which  were  constantly  required, 
and  for  the  safe  keeping  of  these  and  other  records. (^i) 
All  the  troops  in  Egypt  were  under  his  control,  and 
their  complaints  and  disputes  were  specially  referred 
to  him  for  decision. He  held  office  at  the  will  of  the 
emperor,  and  was  not,  apparently,  appointed  for  any 
definite  period  ;  (-^^  the  longest  recorded  tenure  of  the 
office  being  that  of  Vitrasius  Pollio,  who  was  in 
Egypt  for  upwards  of  sixteen  years  :  ^'^^^  and  he  was 
assisted  by  a  council  of  Romans,  who  sat  in  the 
praetorium.^-^) 

5.  In  judicial  matters,  the  immediate  subordinate 
of  the  prefect  was  the  dikaiodotes,^-'^)  who  went  on 
circuit  with  him,  and  in  his  absence  acted  for  him.^^''') 
His  work  lay  chiefly  in  hearing  and  deciding  cases 
which  had  already  been  investigated  by  lower  magis- 
trates, and  referred  by  them  to  his  jurisdiction. The 
majority  of  the  prefects  of  Egypt  would  not  be 
acquainted  with  legal  procedure,  and  would  require 
an  assessor  to  help  them  in  their  judicial  work.  And 
the  dikaiodotes  was  such  an  assessor:  he  filled  the 
place  taken  by  legati  juridici  in  other  provinces.  He 
was,  like  the  prefect,  appointed  by  the  emperor  himself, 
and  was  usually  a  Roman  knight. 

6.  The  only  other  purely  judicial  officer  was  the 
archidikastes,^'^^)  who  was,  according  to  Strabo,  a 
local  Alexandrian  judge. (^o)  His  court  usually  sat  at 
Alexandria  ;  but  he  had  competence  in  civil  cases  from 
all  parts  of  the  country, (^^^  and  on  one  occasion  is 
recorded  to  have  tried  a  case  at  Memphis. (-^^^  He 
appears  to  have  had  special  charge  of  the  archives  at 
Alexandria,  and  to  have  been  the  ordinary  judge  before 
whom  civil  cases  were  brought  which  involved  reference 
to  the  documents  preserved  in  those  archives.  He, 
too,  was  usually  a  Roman  citizen. 

7.  Immediately  subordinate  to  the  prefect  there  were, 
ultimately,  three  epistrategoi,^^^)  appointed  respectively 
for  the  Thebais,  the  Heptanomis  and  Arsinoite  nome, 
and  the  Delta.  In  Upper  Egypt  such  an  official  had 
existed  in  Ptolemaic  times  ;  but  no  evidence  for  the 


DIVISIONAL  OFFICERS 


5 


appointment  of  an  epistrategos  either  in  Middle  or 
Lower  Eg-ypt  is  found  before  the  second  century  of  the 
Empire.  With  one  exception,  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made,  under  Augustus,  the  epistrategoi 
were  always,  so  far  as  is  known,  Romans  ;  they  were 
the  lowest  of  the  imperial  officials  appointed  from 
Rome,  and  as  such  were  the  usual  delegates  for  the 
exercise  of  many  of  the  powers  nominally  fulfilled  by 
the  prefect.  They  held  no  military  authority,  except 
in  so  far  as  the  soldiers  were  employed  for  police 
duties  ;  but  they  frequently  appear  as  competent  judges 
in  cases  arising  in  their  dioceses,  through  which  they 
went  on  circuit. They  were  also  charged  with  the 
task  of  choosing  on  behalf  of  the  government,  from 
names  submitted  to  them  by  the  local  scribes,  men  to 
hold  the  unpaid  offices,  such  as  that  of  strategos  or 
gymnasiarch.(^^)  A  considerable  part  of  their  w^ork, 
however,  was  that  of  intermediaries  for  the  transmis- 
sion to  the  authorities  of  the  nomes  of  the  orders  of 
the  prefect,  and  the  obtaining  for  the  central  govern- 
ment of  returns  of  taxation,  population,  and  the  like.^^^^) 
8.  Below  the  epistrategos  came  the  strategos, (^'')  who 
occupied  the  next  step  for  the  transmission  to  and  fro 
of  orders  and  returns.  The  unit  of  governmept  for 
the  strategoi  was  the  nome  ;  though  occasionally  two 
nomes  were  temporarily  united  under  one  strategos, (^^^ 
or  one  nome  was  divided  between  two  strategoi. In 
judicial  aff"airs,  they  were  the  usual  recipients  of  com- 
plaints, where  proceedings  were  to  be  taken  under  the 
civil  law :  (-^^^  and  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  such  they 
made  circuits  of  their  nomes,  probably  every  month  ; 
but,  except  when  the  power  was  specially  delegated  to 
them  by  the  prefect,  dikaiodotes,  or  archidikastes,  they 
had  no  competence  to  deliver  judgment :  (^^^  complaints, 
when  received,  were  filed  to  await  the  visit  of  the 
prefect  on  circuit.  In  such  cases,  however,  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  strategos  made  a  preliminary  investiga- 
tion, to  satisfy  himself  that  there  was  a  prima  facie 
grievance  ;  and  he  certainly  took  evidence  on  oath, 
copies   of   which  were  filed  like   the  complaints/*^) 


6    ORGANISATION  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMANS 


Copies  of  all  census  returns,  whether  of  land,  persons, 
or  animals,  were  addressed  to  him,  as  well  as  to  the 
census  officers  and  scribes. In  financial  matters, 
the  strategos  was  responsible  for  the  collection  of  the 
taxes  in  his  nome,  and  consequently  had  to  supervise 
the  assessments  of  the  districts  into  which  it  was 
divided,  and  to  take  steps  to  recover  debts  due  for 
taxes  ;  ^^^^  he  was  also  required  to  arrange  the  incidence 
of  the  various  liturgies,  such  as  the  corvee  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  dykes  and  canals/^*^)  Strategoi 
were  appointed  for  a  period  of  three  years,  presumably 
from  the  inhabitants  or  property-holders  of  the  nomes 
for  which  they  were  to  hold  office,  by  the  epistrategoi, 
the  nominations  being  confirmed  by  the  prefect. ^^"^ 
They  were  chosen  indifferently  from  Romans,  Greeks, 
and  Egyptians  ;  and  were  required,  upon  entry  into 
their  office,  to  give  up  all  other  work,  and  to  provide 
security  for  the  proper  observance  of  their  duties, 
besides  taking  an  oath  to  act  according  to  law  ;  ('*^) 
while,  at  the  close  of  their  term,  their  accounts  were 
subjected  to  an  official  audit  before  the  prefect. 

9.  With  the  strategos  was  habitually  associated  the 
royal  scribe,  who  was  his  assistant  in  all  departments 
of  his  work,  especially  in  receiving  returns  (-^^^  and  col- 
lecting evidence  for  legal  proceedings  ;  and,  on 
occasion,  could  act  on  his  behalf. The  royal  scribe, 
to  judge  from  the  records  preserved,  served  for  about 
the  same  period  as  the  strategos,  though,  in  one 
case  at  least,  a  scribe,  Herakleides,  was  in  office  for 
over  five  years. He  was  probably  also  appointed 
in  the  same  manner.  Instances  of  the  appointment 
of  Romans  to  this  post  are  rarer  than  to  that  of 
strategos. 

10.  The  nomarchs,(^^)  who  had  originally  filled  the 
chief  positions  in  each  nome,  had  been  deposed  from 
most  of  their  functions  by  the  strategoi  ;  but  they  were 
still  retained  under  the  latter  as  financial  officers,  and 
also  appear  to  have  had  some  special  duties  in  con- 
nection with  the  transport  of  goods. (^^^  They  exercised 
some  supervision  over  the  collection  of  the  taxes, ^^''^ 


VILLAGE  AUTHORITIES 


7 


and  the  payment  of  the  money  to  the  local  treasury.^^") 
They  were  responsible  for  the  performance  of  these 
duties  to  the  government,  and  were  liable,  in  default 
of  raising  the  due  amount  of  revenue,  to  have  their 
property  confiscated. In  connection  with  their  posi- 
tion of  supervisors  of  taxation,  they  were  apparently 
ranked  as  the  financial  authorities  for  the  various  trades 
and  occupations  of  the  nome.^^^^ 

11.  The  records  of  the  nome  were  kept  by  the  biblio- 
phylakes,  with  whom  copies  of  all  official  documents 
were  deposited, and  who  received  notice  of  all 
changes  in  the  ownership  of  landj^*^^)  together  with 
periodical  returns  from  the  landholders  of  the  nome 
describing  their  property. They  were  divided  into 
two  departments,  the  one  concerned  with  the  work  of 
land-registry,(^^)  the  other  with  the  financial  statements 
of  the  district. The  staff  of  the  former  at  Arsinoe 
numbered  two. 

12.  The  local  government  of  the  villages  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  number  of  officials,  whose  precise  relation- 
ship to  each  other  is  hard  to  determine.  The  elders 
were  probably  responsible  for  the  general  management 
of  affairs  ;  they  were  a  body  of  men  known  in  one 
instance  to  have  numbered  about  ten,  and  in  another 
four,  and  to  have  been  of  no  very  substantial  position, 
possessing,  in  the  first  case,  incomes  of  four  or  five 
hundred  drachmae,  and  in  the  second  eight  hundred. 
They  acted  as  intermediaries  for  the  payment  of  taxes 
on  behalf  of  their  village  ;  (^^^  and  were  held  liable  to 
the  authorities  of  the  nome  for  the  peace  of  its  inhabit- 
ants ;  which  liability  carried  with  it  the  duty  of  assist- 
ing to  present  malefactors  for  trial,  and  of  collecting 
evidence  when  required. ('^"^ 

13.  The  elders  probably  formed  the  village  council, 
which  is  only  known  from  a  single  instance,  in  which 
its  president  appears  as  hiring  two  dancing-girls  for 
the  service  of  the  village,  doubtless  to  dance  at  a 
festival.(»^8) 

14.  The  village  scribe  was  the  person  ultimately 
responsible  for  the  supply  of  all  the  various  items  of 


8    ORGANISATION  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMANS 


information  required  by  the  central  government :  it 
was  he  who  drew  up  lists  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
village,  their  several  holdings  of  land,  the  extent  to, 
and  manner  in,  which  each  holding  was  cultivated  ; 
and  generally  gave  all  particulars  necessary  for  the 
assessment  of  the  taxes  upon  each  individual.  In 
connection  with  this  duty,  he  had  also  to  supply  the 
names  of  men  suitable  to  be  appointed  to  the  liturgies 
of  the  village/^'') 

15.  In  his  work  of  cataloguing  the  inhabitants,  the 
village  scribe  was  assisted  by  the  laographoi,  who  were 
appointed  in  each  village  for  the  sole  purpose  of  col- 
lecting census  returns/"^) 

16.  The  agoranomoi  were  village  officials  who 
were  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  occupied  with  the  execu- 
tion and  registration  of  contracts,  wills,  and  other 
legal  documents.  The  parties  to  the  contract  attended 
before  an  agoranomos,  and,  after  it  was  drawn  up, 
probably  by  the  clerk,  and  signed,  it  was  registered, 
and  a  copy  deposited  in  the  local  archives. ("^'^  If  the 
contract  was  not  drawn  up  at  the  agoranomeion,  notice 
had  to  be  given  there  of  its  completion. ("^^  In  the 
Arsinoite  nome,  contracts  appear  habitually  to  have 
been  made  at  the  grapheion ;  ("^^  or,  if  completed 
privately,  to  have  been  registered  there  :  ("^^  but  it  does 
not  seem  clear  whether  the  grapheion  was  under  the 
control  of  the  agoranomios. 

17.  The  police  administration  of  the  nome^*"*"')  was 
under  the  general  supervision  of  the  two  eirenarchai : 
subordinate  to  them  there  were  in  each  village  one  or 
two  archephodoi,  who  were  the  officials  responsible  for 
the  custody  and  production  of  off"enders  in  court 

in  which  duty  the  elders  or  others  were  sometimes 
associated  with  them.^"'')  The  euschemones  and  eireno- 
phylakes  appear  to  have  held  about  the  same  rank, 
and  to  have  performed  similar  duties  to  those  of  the 
archephodoi. The  actual  work  of  arrest  w^as  done  by 
the  lestopiastai  or  phylakes,^^^)  the  latter  of  whom  were 
paid  officers,  and  were  divided  into  classes  according 
to  their  work.    In  the  maintenance  of  order,  however, 


FINANCIAL  ADMINISTRATION 


9 


the  assistance  of  the  miUtary  was  constantly  sum- 
moned ;  and  the  centurions  of  the  Roman  army  were 
empowered  to  receive  complaints,  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  strategoi,  with  the  addition  that  they  could 
order  the  summary  arrest  of  offenders. 

i8.  There  were  also  a  number  of  officials  in  the 
towns  and  villages  whose  precise  functions  it  is  at 
present  impossible  to  determine  :  the  exegetai/^^) 
euschemones/s*)  kosmetai/^'')  and  gymnasiarchs/^^) 
These  were  probably  all  offices  which  were  imposed 
as  liturgies  upon  the  wealthier  members  of  the  com- 
munity ;  and  the  holders  of  them  shared  with  the  elders 
the  general  management  of  the  affairs  of  their  town  or 
village.  In  this  capacity  they  could  be  called  upon  by 
the  higher  officials  to  give  such  assistance  as  might 
be  required  in  the  government  of  the  district,  by  col- 
lecting taxes,  arresting  criminals,  or  supplying  evidence 
with  regard  to  the  state  of  their  local  affairs.  It  is 
possible  that  the  exegetai  were  introduced  into  the 
government  of  the  towns  when  they  were  granted  the 
privilege  of  electing  senates;  but  in  Alexandria,  at  any 
rate,  the  office  of  exegetes  was  not  dependent  on  the 
existence  of  a  senate. 

19.  The  revenues  of  the  country,  m  addition  to  the 
general  authority  exercised  over  them  by  the  prefect, 
received  the  special  supervision  of  the  idiologos,  who 
was  appointed  by  the  emperor,  and  who,  in  view  of 
the  position  of  Egypt  in  the  imperial  economy  as  the 
private  property  of  the  emperor,  was  virtually  the 
steward  of  the  country  ;  he  was  nominally  subordinate 
to  the  prefect,  but,  being  independently  appointed, 
would  be  likely  to  serve  as  a  check  on  any  attempt  to 
vary  the  imperial  orders  with  regard  to  the  taxation 
of  Egypt. (^'')  The  directions  as  to  the  amount  of 
revenue  to  be  raised,  its  assessment,  and  the  money 
when  collected,  passed  along  the  usual  channel  of 
officials  and  subordinates,  from  prefect  to  strategos  ; 
but  the  actual  collection  was  done  by  a  special  body  of 
officers,  the  praktores,  who  were  divided  into  classes 
according  to  the  taxes  with  which  they  dealt — poll 


lo   ORGANISATION  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMANS 


tax/^s)  corn  tax/^^)  bath  tax/^^)  stephanikon,^^  and  so 
forth  ;  and  for  this  purpose  a  number  of  the  inhabitants 
of  each  village  of  sufficient  income — which  in  one  case 
was  looo  drachma — were  chosen  by  the  strategos 
from  nominations  by  the  village  scribe/^-)  That  the 
liturgy  of  collecting  taxes  was  a  burdensome  one,  in 
respect  of  the  time  and  expense  involved,  is  shown 
by  a  deed  in  which  a  man  who  had  been  named  as 
praktor  appointed  a  deputy,  and  paid  him  252  drachmae 
yearly  to  do  the  work/^'')  The  praktores  were  assisted 
by  another  body,  the  epiteretai  ;  and,  in  the  case  of 
the  wheat  and  barley  taxes,  by  the  paralemptai/^^) 
The  money  taxes  were  usually  paid  into  the  public 
or  other  bank  of  the  village, (^"^^  while  the  taxes  in  kind 
went  to  the  village  granary,  which  was  in  charge  of  the 
sitologoi,^^'')  who  had  to  make  monthly  returns  as  to 
the  amount  of  corn  stored  therein. 

20.  In  addition  to  the  strategos  of  the  nome,  there 
was  a  second  check  upon  the  collection  of  corn  in  the 
dekaprotoi,  who  were  appointed  to  hold  office  in  the 
toparchies,  into  which  the  nomes  were  divided,  and  to 
supervise  the  storage  of  grain  in  the  granaries/^^) 

21.  The  collection  of  customs-duties  at  the  stations 
on  the  Nile  and  on  the  roads  leading  across  the  desert, 
was  in  the  hands  of  companies  of  farmers  ;  and 
other  indirect  taxes,  such  as  the  fees  on  sales  and  on 
the  registration  of  contracts,  were  likewise  farmed. 
That  the  position  of  farmer  of  taxes  was  not  a  very 
profitable  one,  and,  in  fact,  was  probably  little  better 
than  a  liturgy,  especially  after  Nero  had  reformed  the 
system  of  collection  by  publishing  tariffs,  may  be 
gathered  from  the  reluctance  to  continue  their  work 
which  is  sometimes  stated  to  have  been  shown  by  the 
farmers,  and  from  the  special  orders  which  had  to  be 
issued  by  the  prefects  against  compelling  them  to 
undertake  the  duties. The  collection  of  some  taxes, 
such  as  the  poll  tax,  appears  at  some  places  to  have 
been  done  indifferently  by  the  farmers  of  the  customs 
and  the  praktores :  (^^^^  it  may  be  surmised  that  the 
latter,  in  places  where  a  body  of  farmers  existed,  made 


CITY  GOVERNMENT 


some  arrangement  with  them  to  take  over  the  work  of 
revenue  collection. 

22.  The  domain  lands,  consisting  of  the  large 
properties  which  had  belonged  to  the  Ptolemies, 
together  with  the  possessions  of  state  debtors,  and 
those  for  which  no  heirs  or  claimants  appeared,  were 
administered,  under  the  idiologos,  by  a  dioiketes  (i*^^) 
— who  was  probably,  like  the  idiologos,  always  a 
Roman — and  a  body  of  epitropoi  or  procurators/i^"*) 

23.  The  administration  of  the  large  towns  naturally 
stood  on  a  somewhat  different  footing  to  that  of  the 
villages.  Alexandria  had  been  deprived  of  its  senate 
by  Augustus  ;  ^^^^^  but  it  still  enjoyed  a  separate  body  of 
officers,  who  were  specially  nominated  by  the  prefect 
himself.^^^*^)  The  exegetes  answered  to  the  strategoi  of 
the  nomes,  having  the  general  charge  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city,  and  was  privileged  to  wear  the  purple. 
The  hypomnematographos  was  the  counterpart  of  the 
royal  scribes,  and  acted  as  the  clerk  of  the  city.  The 
local  courts  were  presided  over  by  the  archidikastes, 
who  had  also,  however,  as  has  been  seen  above, 
extraneous  functions.  There  was,  naturally,  a  body  of 
police,  whose  commander  was  dignified  with  the  title 
of  strategos  ;  and  in  addition  to  the  agoranomoi  and 
gymnasiarchs,  whose  place  was  similar  to  that  which 
they  held  in  the  country  towns,  there  was  at  least  one 
imperial  procurator — of  Neapolis  and  the  Mausoleum 
of  Alexander — specially  attached  to  Alexandria. 
The  Alexandrian  citizenship  in  itself  carried  certain 
more  or  less  substantial  privileges,  the  chief  of  which 
was  the  exemption  from  poll  tax  and  Hturgies  ;  the 
citizens  also  shared  in  the  distributions  of  corn,  and 
were  entitled  to  be  scourged  with  rods  instead  of  whips; 
and  it  was  only  through  the  Alexandrian  citizenship 
that  an  Egyptian  could  attain  to  the  Roman,  until 
Caracalla  gave  the  latter  privilege  broadcast  to  all  the 
provincials. (1^^)  Severus  had,  a  few  years  previously, 
restored  their  senate  to  the  Alexandrians  but  there 
is  no  evidence  to  show  how  far  it  superseded  the 
previous  form  of  government. 


12  ORGANISATION  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMANS 


24.  At  Ptolemais  -  HermioLi,  the  administration  of 
the  city  on  the  Hellenic  pattern,  with  archons  and 
a  senate,  established  on  its  foundation  by  the 
Ptolemies,  was  seemingly  left  to  subsist  as  it  stood  by 
Augustus, (1^^)  and  Naukratis  also  probably  preserved  its 
separate  magistrates/!^^)  Antinoopolis  was  built  and 
organised  by  Hadrian  as  a  Greek  state,  with  a  senate, 
prytany,  and  tribes/^^-)  And  at  the  end  of  the  century 
the  chief  towns  of  the  nomes  were  granted  the  privilege 
of  self-government.  Arsinoe,(!i^)  Herakleopolis,(i!^> 
Hermopolis,(!i^)  and  Oxyrhynchos  (^i^)  are  known 
instances,  but  doubtless  every  other  metropolis  of 
a  nome  had  its  senate.  At  Thebes  ^^^'^^  also  there  were 
archons  in  the  time  of  Hadrian  ;  in  this  case,  however, 
the  office  was  probably  a  religious  one,  as  it  was 
hereditary,  and  the  political  importance  of  Thebes  in 
the  second  century  was  extremely  small. 

25.  So  far  as  can  be  ascertained  from  the  scanty 
evidence,  the  reorganisation  of  Egypt,  which  took  place 
at  the  end  of  the  third  century,  under  Diocletian, 
effected  more  change  in  the  titles  than  in  the  actual 
duties  of  the  officials  concerned  in  the  government. 
The  prefect  of  Egypt,  to  whose  province  Upper  and 
Lower  Libya — that  is,  Cyrene  and  Paraetonium — were 
added,  received  the  title  of  Augustalis.  Middle  and 
Lower  Egypt,  with  Libya,  were  under  his  special 
supervision  ;  and  in  place  of  the  epistrategoi  of  the 
Thebaid,  Heptanomis  and  Delta  are  found  in  the 
time  of  Theodosius  II.,  the  prgesides  of  Arcadia, 
Augustamnica  Secunda,  Thebais,  and  Aegyptiaca,  and 
of  the  two  divisions  of  Libya,  and  the  corrector  of 
Aug^ustamnica  Prima.  The  military  forces  were  placed 
under  a  dux,  whose  authority  extended  over  the  whole 
country,  till  about  380  a.d.,  when  the  province  was 
split  up  into  three  military  divisions — the  limes 
Aegypti,  including  Lower  and  Middle  Egypt,  under  a 
comes ;  the  Thebaid,  under  a  dux ;  and  the  two 
divisions  of  Libya,  likewise  under  a  dux.^^^^) 

26.  The  prefect  of  Egypt  was  not  only  deprived  of 
his  control  of  the  troops  by  the  appointment  of  the 


BYZANTINE  OFFICIALS 


3 


comes  under  the  Diocletianic  reorganisation  ;  he  was 
also  superseded  in  his  financial  duties  by  a  new  official, 
the  catholicus,  who  apparently  took  the  place  of  the 
idiolog-os,  but  was  not,  as  he  had  been,  subordinate  to 
the  prefect.  The  dioiketes,  who  had  special  charge  of 
the  imperial  domain  land,  continued  to  exist  with  the 
changed  title  of  epitropos  of  the  royal  property. 

27.  Among  the  subordinate  officials  the  strategoi 
almost  disappear  in  the  Byzantine  period,  and  their 
place  appears  to  have  been  taken  in  the  Arsinoite  nome 
by  the  pagarchs,  who  were  not,  however,  like  them, 
appointed  to  the  charge  of  a  nome,  but  merely  to  that 
of  a  pagus  or  division  of  a  nome.^^^^)  In  the  Hermo- 
polite  nome  the  praepositus  pagi  held  an  identical 
position. (^^1)  At  Oxyrhynchos  there  is  found  another 
official,  the  logistes,  who  more  nearly  resembled  the 
strategos  in  the  extent  of  his  jurisdiction  over  the 
whole  nome,  and  who  fulfilled  similar  duties  :  he  is 
once  associated  with  the  strategos. ^^^^^ 

28.  The  local  government  of  the  towns  continued  in 
the  hands  of  the  senates  ;  while  in  the  villages  the 
elders  likewise  remained  as  the  chief  authorities  of 
their  districts. ^^^"^^  A  few  other  minor  officials  appear — 
the  ephor  and  the  quadrarius,  associated  with  the 
komarch,  and  subordinate  to  the  praepositus  pagi^  and 
the  exactores,  who  had  taken  the  duties  of  tax  collection 
which  formerly  belonged  to  the  praktores :  these  were 
appointed  by  nomination  for  one  year,  a  second  year  of 
office  only  being  allowed  if  such  were  the  custom  of 
the  district,  or  if  no  other  suitable  persons  could  be 
found.(i25) 

29.  The  military  authorities  still  took  a  considerable 
part  in  the  administration  of  justice,  especially  with 
regard  to  criminal  offences.  The  correspondence  of 
Flavius  Abinnaeus,  prefect  of  the  camp  at  Dionysias  in 
the  reign  of  Constantius  II.,  shows  that  complaints 
were  frequently  laid  before  him  with  petitions  for 
redress  against  injuries  ;  and  the  superior  officer  whose 
aid  he  was  requested  to  invoke  was  the  dux,  another 
military  official. <i26)    That  his  judicial  functions  were 


14  ORGANISATION  OF  EGYPT  UNDER  THE  ROMANS 


perhaps  somewhat  irreg"ular,  may  be  g"athered  from  the 
fact  that  on  one  occasion  a  serious  dispute  as  to  juris- 
diction arose  between  him  and  the  civil  officials. ^^^''^ 
However,  though  as  a  military  officer  he  may  not  have 
possessed  any  statutory  powers  in  such  legal  matters, 
his  authority  was  unquestionably  recognised  ;  and  he 
had  the  great  advantage  over  the  local  officials,  that  his 
decisions  could  be  promptly  enforced  by  the  soldiers 
under  his  command.  It  was  probably  this  considera- 
tion more  than  any  other  which  caused  the  frequent 
reference  of  criminal  cases  in  Egypt  to  military  officers. 

30.  In  the  sixth  century  fresh  officials  occur  in  sub- 
ordinate posts  :  the  epimeletes  of  the  public  treasury ;  (^^s) 
the  ethnikos  and  embolator  or  arkarikarios,  who  were 
both  collectors  of  taxes  ;  ^^-^^  the  pronoetes,  who  was 
also  a  financial  official. ^^^^^  But  it  is  interesting  to 
observe  how  almost  the  whole  government  of  a  village, 
apart  from  the  mere  duties  of  tax-collection,  seems  to 
have  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  wealthy  landed 
proprietor  in  some  cases  in  the  Oxyrhynchite  nome, 
where  the  leading  house  was  that  of  Flavins  Apion  ; 
so  that  on  one  occasion  a  village  actually  describes 
that  house  as  its  pagarch.  This  custom  had  been 
attacked  by  the  laws  against  patronage  ;  but  the  orders 
of  the  government  were  of  little  avail  against  the  needs 
of  the  Egyptians. (^"^^^ 

[See  Note  IX.,  p.  216,  for  a  comparison  of  the  ancient 
and  modern  local  government  of  Egypt.] 


CHAPTER  II 
The  First  Century  of  Roman  Rule  in  Egypt, 

30  B.C. -68  A.D. 


AUGUSTUS. 

30  B.C.-14  A.D. 

Buildings. — Alexandria  :  Nikopolis.  Sok- 
nopaiou  Nesos  :  peribolos  of  temple  of 
Soknopaios.  Tentyra:  hypostyle, outside 
back  wall,  east  and  west  walls  of  great 
temple  ;  temple  of  Isis ;  Typhonium. 
Koptos:  small  chapel.  Philae:  east  wall, 
temple  K  ;  cast  and  north  walls,  temple 
J.  Dehot :  west  wall  of  temple.  Talmis  : 
temple.  Dendnr front  wall  of  temple. 
Psclkis  :  pronaos  completed. 
[In  almost  all  the  cases  where  the  name 
of  Aug-ustus  appears  on  buildings,  it 
merely  shows  that  a  work  previously 
begun  was  being  carried  on.  The 
small  chapel  at  Koptos  is  perhaps  an  exception,  and  may 
have  been  entirely  built  in  his  reign.  The  propylon  of  the 
temple  of  Isis  at  Tentyra  was  dedicated  for  him.  The 
inscription  from  Soknopaiou  Nesos  in  the  Ghizeh  Museum 
refers  to  a  building  which  has  probably  been  destroyed.  The 
building  of  Nikopolis  is  mentioned  by  Dio  Cassius  (li.  18).] 
hiscriptioiis. — Hieroglyphic  :  L.D.  iv.  69,  70,  71,  72,  73.  Demotic  : 
L.D.  vi.  32.  Greek:  C.I.G.  4715,  4723,  4909,  5080;  M.A. 
61,  65  ;  App.  iii.  I  ;  Rec.  Trav.  1890,  p.  62  ;  Lumbroso,  Docu- 
menti  Greci  del  Mus.  Egiz.  di  Torino,  App.  II.  Trilingual: 
vSitzungsb.  d.  Kaiserl.  Akad.  zu  Berlin,  1896,  p.  469. 
Papyri. — B.G.U.  174,  189,  543,  580;  G.G.P.  i.  45,  46,  ii.  40; 
C.P.R.  224;  Petrie,  Hawara,  p.  36,  No.  244;  Pap.  B.M. 
256  ^d,  e,  262,  354. 
Ostraha.—^M.  12,612,  12,618  (R.E.  iv.  p.  183). 

I.  The  deaths  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra  secured  the 
immediate  recognition  of  Augustus  as  their  successor 

15 


i6 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY 


[30  B.C.-68  A.D. 


by  the  popuhition  of  Lower  Egypt  ;  and  he  was  thus 
able  to  return  to  Rome,  leaving  to  the  prefect  the 
greater  part  of  the  work  connected  w^ith  the  settlement 

of  the  country.  Before  his 
departure,  however,  he  took 
three  steps  to  impress  upon 
the  Greeks  of  Alexandria  that 
they  were  no  longer  to  look 
for  special  privileges  as  from 
rulers  of  their  own  race,  or 
to  arrogate  to  themselves  the 
position  of  a  sovereign  class. 
In  addition  to  depriving  them 
of  their  senate, (^^^^  and  thus 
destroying  the  most  char- 
acteristically Hellenic  part  of 
the  local  government,  he 
granted  to  the  Jews  of  the 
city  a  renewal  of  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  which  they  had 
enjoyed  under  the  Ptolemies, 
thus  placing  them  on  a  position 
p     -  V         1     of  equality  w^ith  the  Greeks, 

^  '^-1'--  Z.^^^^ — J     or  even  of  superiority  ;  for, 

Fig.  I.— AuGfustus:  Temple  K,    on  the  one  hand,  they  were 
^'^^  allowed   to   choose    an  eth- 

narch  or  a  council  of  elders 
to  regulate  their  own  affairs, while  the  Greeks 
lost  their  right  to  elect  a  senate  ;  though,  on  the 
other,  they  were  liable  to  pay  the  poll  tax,  from 
which  the  Greeks  were  free  These  concessions  were 
granted  to  the  Jews  by  Augustus,  to  whom  that 
nation  had  been  of  considerable  service,  in  the  teeth 
of  a  request  from  the  Greeks  for  their  refusal. 
The  third  blow  aimed  at  the  Greek  population, 
which  if  it  had  succeeded  in  its  object  would 
have  been  the  heaviest  of  all,  was  the  foundation 
of  a  new  city,  named  Nikopolis,  four  miles  east  of 
Alexandria. ^^2"*)  To  this  Augustus  seemingly  designed 
to  remove   the  seat  of  government  and  the  official 


SUBJUGATION  OF  UPPER  EGYPT 


17 


celebrations  of  religion, 
flourished,    and  only 
continued  to  exist  as 
the  camp  of  the  Roman 
garrison. 

2.  The  submission 
of  Lower  Egypt  to  the 
Roman  government 
did  not  carry  with  it 
that  of  the  southern 
districts,  which  for 
many  years  had  been 
subject  in  little  more 
than  name  to  the  kings 
of  Egypt.  So  the  first 
duties  which  fell  to  the 
new  prefect,  Cornelius 
Gallus,  consisted 
country. 


But  the  new  settlement  never 


Fig.  2. — Augustus  adoring  Isis:  Tentyra. 
in  suppressing  disturbances  up  the 
Heroopolis  was  the  first  city  to  rise  against  [29 


Fig.  3.— Phike  :  Temple  of  Hathor. 

the  Romans,  and  to  be  retaken. (i^o)    a  more  widely 


V — 2 


i8 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY 


[30  B.C. -68  A.D. 


legions 
In 


spread  revolt  was  caused  in  the  Thebaid  by  the  arrival 
of  the  Roman  tax-collectors  ;  but  the  Egyptians  were  no 

match  for  the 
which  followed, 
fifteen  days  the  rebels 
were  crushed  in  two 
pitched  battles,  and  the 
country  was  secured 
by  the  reduction  of 
the  towns  of  Boresis, 
Koptos,  Keramike,  Di- 
ospolis,  and  Ophieum. 
The  prefect  marched 
on  to  Syene,  and  on 
the  island  of  Philae  met 
ambassadors    of  the 


Fig.  4.— Khnum  forming  Augustus, 
Hekt  giving  him  life  :  Tentyra. 


and 


king-  of  the  Ethiopians.    The  region  beyond  the  First 


Fig,  5. — Talmis  :  P>ont  of  Temple. 

Cataract  had  been  for  over  a  century  entirely  independ- 
ent of  Egypt ;  and  Gallus,  not  caring  to  venture  into 


THE  EARLIEST  PREFECTS 


19 


unknown  country,  came  to  terms  with  the  ambassadors, 
by  which  the  border  territory  known  as  the  Triakon- 
taschoinoi  was  constituted  a  Roman  protectorate,  but 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  y^^thiopians.(i^*^> 

3.  This  easy  conquest  of  the  country  was  celebrated 
by  Gallus  with  such  extravagant  praise  of  himself,  that 
he  aroused  the  displeasure  of  his  master.  He  caused 
statues  to  be  set  up  in  his  honour,  and  inscriptions  to 
be  carved  on  public  buildings  ;  and  Augustus,  lest  the 
Egyptians  should  hold  the  viceroy  above  the  emperor, 
recalled  him  from  his  province  ;  whereupon  he  com-  [28  b.c. 
mitted  suicide. (^''"^ 

4.  His  successor,  Gaius  Petronius,  was  called  upon 
to  suppress  a  rising  of  the  Alexandrians — probably  one 


Fig.  6. — Tent\  la  :  Temple  from  the  south. 

of  the  general  riots  in  which  the  turbulent  mob  of  the 
chief  city  of  Egypt  indulged  from  time  to  time.^^^^) 
It  was,  at  any  rate,  easily  quelled  ;  and  the  soldiers 
were  turned  to  the  more  useful  task  of  clearing  the 
irrigation  canals,  which  had  silted  up  during  the  reigns 
of  the  later  Ptolemies  to  such  an  extent  as  seriously  to 
diminish  the  amount  of  land  available  for  cultivation. 
The  work  was  successfully  accomplished,  so  that  a  rise 
of  twelve  cubits  at  Memphis,  when  the  Nile  was  in 
flood,  conferred  as  much  benefit  on  the  country  as  one 
of  fourteen  had  done  in  previous  years. 

5.  ^lius  Gallus,  the  third  prefect,  was  specially 
commissioned  to  subdue  the  districts  of  Ethiopia, 
Trogodytica,  and  Arabia.  Through  these  the  trade- 
routes  from  Central  Africa  and  India  ran  ;  and  the 


20 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY 


[30  B.C. -63  A.U. 


Romans,  imagfining  that  th^ 
received  along-  these  chann 


25  B.C.] 


Fig.  7. — Augustus:  Talm's. 


Fig.  8. — Augustus  :  Debot. 


valuable  goods  which  they 
Is  were  produced  by  their 
immediate  neighbours, 
designed  to  get  into  their 
possession  districts  of 
such  wealth.  Gallus  ac- 
cordingly built  a  fleet  at 
Cleopatris,  and  sailed  to 
attack  Arabia  with  a  force 
of  10,000  Roman  troops, 
1000  Nabataeans,  and  500 
Jews,  the  two  latter  con- 
tingents being  supplied  by 
the  client-kings  Obodas 
and  Herod.  The  expedi- 
tion landed  at  Leuke 
Kome  on  the  Arabian 
coast,  where  it  wintered, 
and  moved  forward  in  the 
spring  into  the  territory 
of  the  Sabaeans.  But 
by  the  time  that  the 
Romans  had  reached  the 
Sabaean  capital,  Mariaba, 
although  they  had  no- 
where met  the  Arabian 
forces  in  a  regular  battle, 
they  had  suffered  so  much 
from  disease  and  want  of 
water,  that  Gallus  deter- 
mined on  retreat,  with- 
out making  any  serious 
attempt  on  the  town ; 
and  withdrew  his  troops 
to  Nera  Kome,  whence 
he  returned   by  way  of 

Mvos  Hormos  and  Kop- 
tos.(i^o) 

6.  The  expedition  had 
failed  largely  through  the 


Invasion  of  Arabia 


2t 


ignorance  or  incapacity  of  the  prefect,  who  had  wasted 
his  time  and  forces  by  an  unnecessarily  long  voyage  and 
march.  If  he  had  obtained  proper  information  about 
the  country  he  intended  to  invade,  as  he  might  easily 
have  done  from  merchants,  he  could  have  learnt  that  the 
route  to  be  followed  was  the  more  southerly  one  from 
Berenike  to  the  island  Katakekaumene.  It  was  pos- 
sibly on  account  of  this  failure  that,  in  the  follow- 


i-  .  :    i  ^  11,,..,  i.-,,rri 

ing  year,  the  government  of  Egypt  is  found  in  the 
hands  of  Gains  Petronius  once  more.^^^^^  During  the 
absence  of  ^Elius  Gallus  in  Arabia,  the  Ethiopians 
had  taken  the  opportunity  to  break  off  the  friendly 
relations  which  Cornelius  Gallus  had  established  with 
them;  and  their  muster  of  30,000  ill-armed  men  had[24B.c. 
seized  Syene,  Elephantine,  and  Philae,  defeating  the 
three  Roman  cohorts  which  were  stationed  in  that 
district.  Petronius,  however,  brought  up  a  force  of 
10,000  infantry  and  800  cavalry,  and  drove  them  back 


22  THE  FIRST  CENTURY  [30  b.c.-68  a.d. 

to  Pselkis.  There  three  days  were  spent  in  fruitless 
negotiations,  at  the  close  of  which  the  Romans  defeated 
them,  and  successively  stormed  Pselkis,  Premis,  and 
the  Ethiopian  capital  Nabata.     Leaving  a  garrison, 


Fig.  10.— Dendur  :  Temple. 


Fig.  II. — Pselkis:  Temple  and  1'} 


WARS  OX  THE  SOUTHERN  FRONTIER  23 


Petronius  returned  to  Alexandria,  only  to  be  recalled 
next  year  by  the  news  that  his  garrison  was  besieged. 
It  was,  however,  speedily  relieved  ;  and  Kandake,  the 
queen  of  the  ^Ethiopians,  sent  ambassadors  to  Rome  to 
sue  for  peace,  which  w^as  granted,  and  their  territory 
evacuated/i-^-)  A  part  of  the  Roman  protectorate  of 
the  Triakontaschoinoi — the  district  between  Syene,  the 
former  frontier  town,  and  Hiera  Sykaminos,  known  as 
the   Dodekaschoinoi  —  was,  however,  now  definitely 


l  lG.  12.  —  Hicra  Sykaniinus  :   1  cniple, 

occupied  by  Roman  troops  as  a  military  frontier, 
seemingly  not  subject  to  the  civil  authorities,  and  not 
organised,  like  the  rest  of  Egypt,  as  a  nome.(^^-^)  From 
this  time  the  relations  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  remained 
on  the  whole  peaceful.  A  few  years  later  a  mission 
from  Kandake  into  Roman  territory  left  a  record  on 
its  return  at  Pselkis  ;  (^^^^  but  with  this  exception 
nothing  is  heard  of  the  Ethiopians  for  many  years  after 
the  expedition  of  Petronius. 


24 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  [30  b.c.-68  a.d. 

TIBERIUS. 


H-37- 


Buildings. — Philae  :  temple  J,  west  wall;  east  wall  and  wall  of 
hypostyle,  temple  K  ;  door  M  ;  colonnade  F  ;  colonnade  D. 
Ombos  :  temple,    Apollinopolis  Parva  :  temple  of  Isis — peri- 

v^P  bolos,  Koptos  :  temple  of  Ptolemy  XIII.  Tentyra  :  pronaos. 
Athribis  :  pronaos  of  temple  of  Thriphis. 

[The  buildings  executed  under  Tiberius  at  Philae  were  all  con- 
tinuations of  earlier  undertakings  ;  as  was  the  work  on  the 
temples  at  Koptos  and  Ombos.  At  Apollinopolis  Parva, 
Tentyra,  and  Athribis,  additions  were  made  or  completed  to 
old  temples.] 

Inscriptions. — Hieroglyphic:  L.D.  iv.  74,  75,  76;  Petrie,  Koptos, 

xxvi.  6,  7,  8.   Demotic:  L.D.  vi.  26,  27,  33.   Greek:  C.I.G. 

iii.  471 1,  4716,  4716  b,  4963,  5074;  M.A.  64;  App.  iii.  2,  3; 

Rec.  Trav.  1890,  p.  62.    Latin:  C.I.L.  iii.  6589. 
Ostraka. — P.S.B.A.  vii.  pp.  11  ff.,  Nos.  12,  13,  19,  21,  pp.  i95ff., 

No.  I  ;  ix.  p.  198,  No.  4. 
Papyri. — B.G.U.  197,  636;  Petrie,  Hawara,  p.  36,  Nos.  41,  60,  166, 

208,  212-4,  238;  Pap.  B.M.  195,  256  i^a,  276,  277,  357,  445. 
Miscellaneous. — A  stele  of  Tiberius  adoring  Horus  and  Isis(M.G.) 

from  Apollinopolis  Parva  ;  a  similar  stele  from  Koptos  (Petrie, 

Koptos,  p.  22). 

7.  During  the  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Augustus, 
and  the  whole  of  that  of  Tiberius,  Egypt  remained  in 
a  state  of  comparative  tranquilHty  ;  so  that  by  the  tenth 
23  A. D.]  year  of  the  latter  emperor  the  three  Roman  legions 
which  had  formed  the  original  garrison  of  the  country 
had  been  already  reduced  to  two.^^^''^  The  strict  watch 
which  Tiberius  kept  upon  his  ministers  tended  to 
preserve  this  tranquillity,  by  checking  any  exaction  or 
oppression  on  the  part  of  the  officials  which  might 


GOOD  GOVERNMENT  OF  TIBERIUS  25 


have  given  occasion  for  disturbances  among  the  people. 


res  \CS 


Fig.  13. — Tiberius:  Philee. 
Thus  he  rebuked  the  prefect  ^milius  Rectus,  who  sent 


Fig.  14.-  -I'hiku  :  \\  est  bide  of  Great  Court. 


to  Rome  a  larger  amount  of  tribute  than  that  which 


26  THE  FIRST  CEXTURY  [30  b.c.-68  a.d. 

had  been  fixed,  for  flaying  his  sheep  instead  of  shearing 
them.O^*^"') 

8.  The  same  strictness  appears  in  his  censure  of 
Germanicus  Csesar,  who,  when  sent  out  as  governor  of 
9  A.D.]      the  East,  took  the  opportunity  of  visiting  Egypt  on  an 


Fig.  15. — Tentyra  :  Portico  of  I  cmpk'.    >  I'hulo.  \>y  \V.  .M.  F.  Petrie. ) 


antiquarian  tour,  ascending  the  Nile  as  far  as  Syene. 
He  had,  however,  omitted  to  obtain  permission  from 
the  emperor,  and  had  thus  broken  the  law  laid  down 
by  Augustus,  which  forbade  any  Roman  citizen  of 
senatorial  rank,  without  such  permission,  to  enter 
Alexandria  :  he  had  also  taken  upon  himself  to  open 
the  public  granaries  in  a  time  of  scarcity,  and  allow  the 
stores  of  wheat  hoarded  there  to  be  sold,  thus  lowering 
the  price  of  grain  ;  and  had  gone  about  among  the 


VISIT  OF  GERMANICUS 


27 


people  in  a  Greek  dress,  without  guards. (i^")  All  these 
acts  were  capable  of  treasonable  interpretation,  especi- 


Fig.  16. — Tiberius  :  Philns. 


! r-i  M k'  A  FA  r  n OX  I-'  ^t;--  f '  '\  i 


Fig.  17. — Stele  of  Tiberius  adoring  Isis  and  Horu  in  Ghizeh 
Museum.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 

ally  when  done  in  Egypt,  the  province  which  gave  to 


28 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY 


[30  B.C.-68  A.D. 


its  possessor  the  command  of  Rome,  and  which  was 
always  ready  to  embark  on  a  new  course  of  sedition 


Fig.  18.— Tiberius  :  Philas. 


with  any  leader  who  might  call  to  it  ;  and  they  were 
visited  with  severe  reproof  by  Tiberius. 


32-37  A.D. 


CALIGULA. 
37-41- 

Buildings. — Tentyra  :  hypostyle  of  great 
temple.  Koptos :  passage  dedicated 
to  Khem-ra. 
[The  buildings  of  this  reign  were  appar- 
ently only  continuations  of  the  older 
works.] 

Inscriptions. — Hieroglyphic:  L. D.  iv.  76. 
Greek:  C.LG.  iii.  5101  ;  Sitzungsb. 
der  Kgl.  Preuss.  Akad.  1887,  p.  419, 
No.  125.  Latin  :  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p. 
107. 

6>^/m/^«.— P.S.B.A.  V.  pp.  84ff.,B.M.579oe; 

vii.  pp.  I  iff.,  No.  20. 
Papyri.— C.V.^.  242;  Pap.  B.M.  177. 

9.  The  last  of  the  prefects  appointed  by  Tiberius, 
Avillius  Flaccus,  succeeded  for  some  years  in  keeping 
the  various  factions  in  Egypt  quiet,  if  not  satisfied,  by 
administering  even-handed  justice  to  all  ranks  and 
classes  alike,  and  by  holding  firmly  under  control  both 


ANTI-JEWISH  RIOTING 


29 


Roman  soldiery.  But 
reins  of  empire  passed 


the  Alexandrian  mob  and  the 
on  the  death  of  Tiberius  the 
into  the  weaker  hands  of  Cal- 
igula ;  and  the  old  -  standing 
enmity  of  Greeks  and  Jews  soon 
found  an  occasion  for  open 
conflict  in  the  eccentricities  of 
the  new  emperor.  The  signal 
for  the  outbreak  was  given  by 
the  arrival  of  Agrippa  at  Alex- 
andria on  his  way  to  the  king- 
dom which  his  friendship  with 
Caligula  had  secured  him.  The 
Jewish  account  of  what  followed, 
given  by  Philo  and  Josephus, 
naturally  throws  the  whole 
blame  on  the  Greeks ;  but  it  may 
be  remarked  that  the  visits  of  Agrippa  and 


[38  A 


Fig 


Caligula  :  Tentyra. 

of  his 

son  to  Alexandria  were  always  coincident  with  riots. 
The  newly-made  king  was  well  known  to  the  Alex- 
andrian money-lenders  ;  and  in  his  sudden  elevation 
from  bankruptcy  to  a  throne  the  mob  saw  an  opportunity 
for  the  coarse  humour  in  which  they  delighted  :  they 
dressed  up  an  idiot  with  a  paper  crown,  and .  led 
him  about  the  streets  in  mockery  of  the  parve?iu 
king.  The  disturbance  once  begun,  as  the  Greeks 
might  feel  certain  that  Agrippa  would  lay  the  Jewish 
case  before  his  friend  the  emperor,  they  proceeded  to 
find  a  justification  for  their  actions  in  the  plea  that  the 
Jews  had  disregarded  the  order  of  Caligula  for  the 
erection  of  statues  of  himself  in  all  temples,  and  to 
enter  the  Jewish  synagogues  for  the  purpose  of  placing 
therein  such  statues.  By  this  stroke  of  policy  they  got 
the  prefect  on  their  side,  and  induced  him  to  withdraw 
from  the  Jews  the  rights  of  citizenship,  to  have  thirty- 
eight  of  the  Jewish  elders  scourged  by  the  public  execu- 
tioner, and  to  order  all  the  houses  in  the  Jewish  quarter 
to  be  searched  for  concealed  arms.  Meanwhile  the 
Greeks  plundered  and  slew  the  Jews  at  their  will. 

10.  The  attempts  of  the  Jewish  community  to  lay 


30 


THE  FIRST  CEXTURY 


[30  P..C.-68  A.D. 


a  complaint  before  the  emperor  were  suppressed  by 
Flaccus,  until  Agrippa  took  up  their  cause.  His  in- 
fluence was  sufficient  to  secure  the  disgrace  and  recall 
of  the  prefect,  for  which  a  colourable  pretext  might  be 
found  in  the  facts  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  keep  the 
peace  in  his  province,  and  had  certainly  exceeded  his 
powers  in  depriving  the  Jews  of  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship :  although  neither  of  these  arguments  would  be 


Fig.  20. — Alexandria  :  Ruins  of  the  Gymnasium.    (Ainslie,  Views  in 
Egypt. )' 

likely  to  have  any  great  weight  with  Caligula  in  the 
actual  decision  of  the  case,  as  the  riots  had  arisen  over 
the  question  of  his  own  deification,  and  the  Jews  had 
been  punished  for  opposing  his  wishes. 

II.  The  precautions  taken  in  effecting  the  deporta- 
tion of  Flaccus  serve  to  show  the  strong  position  held 
by  a  prefect  of  Egypt.  A  centurion  was  specially 
despatched  from  Rome  with  a  cohort  of  soldiers,  and, 
on  approaching  Alexandria,  waited  till  night  fell  before 


JEWISH  REPRISALS 


31 


he  entered  the  harbour.  He  then  hurried  to  surprise 
the  prefect  before  any  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  Roman 
vessel  could  reach  him,  arrested  him  at  a  supper  party, 
and  took  him  back  on  board  without  delay. 

12.  Agrippa  had  effected  the  disgrace  of  Flaccus  ; 
but  he  was  unable  to  procure  a  favourable  hearing  at 
Rome  for  an  embassy  which  the  Jews  sent  to  lay  their 
case  before  Caligula.  This  embassy,  which  was  headed 
by  Philo,  was  confronted  by  another  representing  the 
Greeks,  whose  spokesman  was  Apion  ;  and  the  two 
parties  exhausted  themselves  in  running  about  the 
palace  after  the  emperor,  and  endeavouring  to  get  a 
few  arguments  or  explanations  interposed  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  domestic  trivialities  which  occupied  most  of 
the  attention  of  the  court.  Finally,  as  the  only  ques- 
tion of  importance  appeared  to  be  the  worship  of  the 
emperor,  the  Jews  were  glad  to  be  dismissed  by  him 
with  an  affectation  of  contemptuous  pity  for  a  people 
who  could  not  recognise  that  he  was  a  god.^^^^^ 


CLAUDIUS. 
41-54- 

Buildings.  —  Tenlyra  :  columns  of  great 
temple.  Latopolis :  corner  pillars  of 
pronaos  and  columns.  Phil«  :  west 
colonnade. 

[Under  Claudius  the  records  of  building- 
refer  only  to  the  continuations  of  work 
previously  begun.] 
Inscriptions.  —  Hieroglyphic:  L. D.  iv.  77, 
78.  Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4956,  4697b; 
]\I.A.  47  ;  App.  iii.  4,  5.  Latin  :  C.I.L. 
iii.  6624. 

Ostrako?i. — P.S.B.A.  vii.  pp.  11  fT.,  No.  14. 
Papjyri.—B.G.V.   37,    177,   297,   :;84,  611, 
713;  G.G.P.  ii.  41;  C.P.R.  4;  G.O.P. 
37i  38,  39;  Pap.  B.M.  139  a,  139  b,  165. 

13.  Agrippa  reappeared  in  the  tumults  which  broke 
out  at  Alexandria  after  the  death  of  Caligula  ;  and 
on  this  occasion  the  Jews  were  unquestionably  the 
aggressors.    They  hoped  to  be  able,  under  an  emperor 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY 


[30  B.C. -63  A.D. 


who  \v 


41  A.  P.] 


as  more  favourably  disposed  towards  their  nation 
than  the  late  one  had  been,  to 
take  vengeance  on  the  Greeks  ; 
and  Agrippa,  whose  influence 
was  still  strong  at  Rome, 
procured  the  countenance  of 
Claudius  for  their  claims  and 
the  restoration  of  the  rights  of 
citizenship  and  self-government 
which  had  been  conferred  upon 
them  by  Augustus.  He  went 
so  far  as  to  appear  in  public  at 
Alexandria,  and  read  aloud  the 
imperial  edict  for  the  protection 
of  the  Jews. (1^9) 


— Claudius  :  Philae. 


Fig.  22.— Latopolis  :  Capitals  of  columns.    (Photo,  by  W.  M.  F.  Petrie.) 


TRADE  WITH  THE  EAST 


3.3 


14.  The  hatred  of  Jews  and  Greeks,  however,  was 
not  likely  to  be  stilled  by  such  measures,  and  when  the 
younger  Agrippa,  who  had  been  made  king  of  Chalkis  [53  a.d. 
by  Claudius,  came  to  play  the  same  part  at  Alexandria 

as  his  father,  the  Greeks,  resenting"  his  interference  in 
their  affairs,  despite  his  friendship  with  the  emperor, 
sent  an  embassy  under  Isidoros  the  gymnasiarch  to 
Rome  to  make  formal  complaint  of  his  behaviour. (^^^^ 

15.  Since  the  time  of  the  expedition  of  ^lius  Gallus 


Fig.  2j.  —  Hermopolis  Magna  :  Tcnipie,    ^  Description  de  I'Egypte. ) 


into  Arabia,  the  Romans  had  learnt  that  the  goods 
brought  into  the  Red  Sea  ports  by  Arab  vessels  came, 
not  from  Arabia,  but  from  India  ;  and  they  rapidly 
took  the  trade  into  their  own  hands.  The  discovery 
was  partly  made  by  accident,  when,  in  this  reign,  a 
Roman  tax-collector  was  driven  by  a  storm  from  the 
coast  of  Arabia  to  Ceylon  ;  (i^i)  but  the  government 
took  systematic  measures  to  secure  the  monopoly  for 
ships  from  Egyptian  ports.    In  addition  to  steps  for 

V— 3 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY  [30  b.c.-68  a.d. 


the  suppression  of  piracy  in  the  Red  Sea,  a  Roman 
fleet  was  sent  about  this  time  against  Adane,  the  chief 
trading  -  centre  of  the  Arabian  coast,  and  destroyed 
it,^'^-)  apparently  for  purely  commercial  reasons  ;  and  a 
special  customs  tariff  was  adopted,  favouring  the  direct 
Indian  trade  by  the  imposition  of  a  heavy  import  duty 
of  twenty-five  per  cent,  on  goods  from  Arabian  ports. 

16.  The  development  of  trade,  together  with  the 
advantages  secured  to  the  Egyptians  by  a  settled  and 
careful  government,  chief  amongst  which  was  the  im- 
provement of  the  irrigation  system,  brought  a  renewal 
of  prosperity  to  the  country,  which  w^as  marked  by  the 
reopening  of  the  Alexandrian  mints  under  Claudius. 
Very  little  fresh  coinage  was  put  into  circulation  in 
the  reign  of  Augustus,  and  by  the  time  of  Caligula  the 
issue  of  local  money  had  entirely  stopped.  It  now, 
however,  recommenced,  and  considerable  issues  of  the 
debased  silver  tetradrachms,  which  served  as  the 
Alexandrian  stater,  were  made.  Still  larger  quantities 
were  struck  under  Nero  ;  indeed,  so  numerous  were  the 
coins  then  put  into  circulation,  that  in  the  hoards  of  the 
succeeding  century  they  habitually  form  one-half  of  the 
total  sum. (^53 

NERO. 
54-68. 

Buildings. — Karanis  :  propylon  of  temple  of 
Pnepheros.  Tentyra:  east  wall,  colon- 
nades, and  columns  of  great  temple. 
Koptos  :  temple  of  Ptolemy  XIII.  Om- 
bos  :  west  colonnade. 
[The  only  building-  of  Nero  which  appears  to 
have  been  more  than  a  continuation  of 
previous  work  is  the  propylon  at  Karanis, 
which  may  have  been  erected  wholly  in 
this  reign,  j 

Inscriptions.--\iWitvo^\yY>\\\c  :  L.  D.  iv.  79,  80  ; 
Petrie,  Koptos,  xxvi.  9.     Demotic:  L.D. 
vi.  14.4.    Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4699;  M.A. 
99,  c  ;  R.E.G.  vii.  p.  2S4,  No.  10  ;  Petrie, 
E,E. F.  Report,  1895-96,  p.  16,  No.  2.  Latin: 


lUahun, 
C.I.L.  i 


P-  32 


P.S.B.A.  V.  pp.  84ff.,  B.M. 
vii.  pp.  I  iff.,  Nos.  16,  22. 


-90k,  B.M.  [no  number]; 


JEWISH  RISING 


35 


Papjyri.—B.G.IJ.  112,   181,  379,  591,  612,  650,  748;   G.O.P.  i. 

99;  Pap.  B.M.  154,  t8i,  280,  281. 
Miscellaneous. — Stele  of  Nero  adoring  Min,  from  Koptos^-Petrie, 

Koptos,  p,  22. 


17.  A  fresh  and  unusually  serious  riot  of  the  Greek 
and  Jewish  factions  broke  out  soon 
after  the  accession  of  Nero.  It 
was  provoked  by  the  expedition  of 
a  large  body  of  Egyptian  Jews  to 
Palestine,  with  the  object  of  setting 
Jerusalem  free  from  Roman  rule. 
The  expedition  itself  was  fruitless, 
but  the  religious  fervour  which  had 
inspired  it  and  sent  it  out,  found 
further  vent  in  a  quarrel  at  Alex- 
andria, where  the  Jews  attacked  the 
amphitheatre  in  which  the  Greeks 
were  assembled,  alleging  the  ill- 
treatment  of  certain  of  their  fellows 
in  justification  ;  and,  but  for  the 


[55  A.D. 


Fig.  24. — Nero  :  Tentyra. 


Fig.  25. — Karanis  :  Interior  of  Temple  of  Pnephercs  and 
Petesouchos.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


36 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY 


[30  B.C. -68  A.U. 


active  interposition  of  the  prefect  with  a  number  of  the 
Jewish  elders,  would  have  set  fire  to  it.  The  Greeks 
naturally  indulged  in  reprisals,  until  the  Roman 
garrison  had  to  be  called  out  to  protect  the  Jews,  and 
secure  them  in  their  own  quarter. (^^^^ 

1 8.  Apart  from  Alexandria,  however,  Egypt  was  peace- 
ful. Even  on  the  southern  frontier  the  tribes  of  the  desert 
had  ceased  from  troubling  ;  in  great  measure,  no  doubt, 
because  of  the  waste  which  had  been  made  of  the  debat- 


FlG.  26, — Xeio  :  Onibos. 


able  ground  above  the  First  Cataract,  and  which  secured 
peace  because  there  was  no  plunder.  A  tribune,  sent 
with  a  scouting  party  from  Syene  to  Meroe,  found 
nothing  along  the  banks  of  the  Nile  but  desert. ^^^^^ 

19.  This  mission  was  connected  with  a  great  scheme 
of  conquest  in  the  Eastern  provinces  to  which  Nero 
was  devoting  his  attention.  One  of  the  objects  w^as 
the  invasion  of  .-Ethiopia  ;  and  for  this  purpose,  just 
68  A. D.]  before  his  fall  he  despatched  to  Alexandria  some  of  the 
German  legions. (^^^^    A  year  previously  he  had  seem- 


PROSPERITY  OF  EGYPT 


37 


ingly  been  expected  at  Alexandria,  as  coins  were 
struck  bearing-  the  type  of  the  galley  which  was  to 
convey  him  ;  C^')  and  when  he  heard  of  the  proclama 


Fig.  27.  —  Karanis  :  Gateway  of  Nero  lu  '1  cnipk'  ui  Pnepheros  and 
Petasouchos,    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 

tion  of  Galba  as  emperor  by  the  troops,  and  of  his 
approach,  he  thought  of  retiring-  to  Egypt,  or  even 
of  asking  for  the  position  of  prefect  of  that  country. (i^^^) 


20.  On  the  whole,  the  internal  condition  of  Egypt 


38 


THE  FIRST  CENTURY 


[30  B.C. -68  A.D. 


had  steadily  improved  during-  the  first  century  of  its 
ijovernment  by  the  Romans.  The  immediate  results 
of  the  conquest  by  Auo;ustus,  it  is  true,  had  not  been 
favourable  to  its  prosperity  ;  the  trade  and  agriculture 
had  been  rapidly  deteriorating  under  the  later  Ptolemies, 
and  the  sudden  removal  of  all  the  portable  property 
of  the  court,  representing  a  large 
amount  of  capital,  from  the  country, 
did  not  tend  to  improve  matters. 
There  was  no  remission  of  taxation  ; 
a  large  quantity  of  corn  was  with- 
drawn yearly  as  tribute  ;  the  rate 
of  interest  was  high — eighteen  per 
Fig.  28.— Galley  of  cent.,^^^'^)  at  any  rate  in  one  early 
Nero.  (Bodleian.)  instance  ;  though  shortly  afterwards 
the  rate,  subsequently  normal,  of  twelve  per  cent,  is 
found  ;  ^^^^^ — and  all  signs  point  to  a  general  scarcity 
of  money.  The  consequence  of  these  difficulties  may 
partly  be  traced  in  the  several  outbreaks  under 
Augustus.  But  gradually,  under  the  care  of  a  suc- 
cession of  able  prefects,  the  state  of  the  country  was 
improved.  The  frontiers  were  secured  against  in- 
vasion by  the  defeat  of  the  Ethiopians  by  Petronius  ; 
the  external  trade  of  the  country  was  enlarged  by 
the  development  of  the  Red  Sea  traffic  with  India 
and  the  East  ;  measures  were  taken,  notably  by 
Claudius,  for  the  extension  of  manufactures  and 
mineral  workings  ;  and  the  government  encouraged 
agriculture  by  restoring  the  means  of  irrigation  in  the 
cleansing  of  the  canals,  first  done  by  Petronius  in  the 
reign  of  Augustus,  and  subsequently  by  Balbillus  in 
that  of  XerOo  The  increase  in  general  prosperity  is 
marked  by  the  large  issues  of  fresh  coinage  under 
Claudius  and  Nero.  The  decree  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Busiris  and  the  Letopolite  nome  in  honour  of  Nero  and 
his  prefect  Balbillus, which  styles  Nero  the  Agathos 
Daimon  of  the  w^orld,  is  probably  more  than  a  mere 
empty  formula,  aind  shows  the  actual  feeling  of  the 
people  towards  the  government  which  had  done  so 
much  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  III 
A  Century  of  Prosperity,  68-182  a.d. 
GALEA. 
68-60. 

Biiildiyigs. — Thebes  :  small  temple  of  Med- 
inet  Habu. 

[At  Thebes,  the  work  done  in  previous 
reigns  was  still  continued  under 
Galba.] 

Inscriptions. —  Hierog-lyphic  :  L.D.  iv.  80. 
Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4957;  Petrie,  Kop- 
tos,  c.  vi.  No.  ii. 

I.  The  leg-ions  sent  to  Eg-ypt  by  Nero  went  no  farther 


Fig.  29. — Galba  :  Thebes. 

than  Alexandria,  and  were  recalled  immediately  on  the 

accession  of  Galba  ;  (^''-^  since  the  idea  of  an  invasion 

39 


40 


A  ('F.XTl^RY  OF  PROSPERITY 


[68-182  A.n 


of  .^^thiopia  was  not  one  that  was  lil^cly  to  attract 
the  new  emperor,  and  if  that  project  was  dropped, 
there  was  no  need  whatever  for  increasing-  tlie  garrison 
of  two  legions  in  Egypt. 


OTIIO. 
69. 

Jhiildings. — Thebes  :  door  of  small  temple 
of  Medinet  Habu. 

[The  building'  at  Thebes  Wiis  a  continua- 
tion of  earlier  work.] 

I)iscription. — Hieroglyphic:  L.  D.  iv.  80. 


2.  These  two  legions  at  first  showed  no  desire  to 


Fig.  30.— Otho:  Thebes. 


EMPEROR-MAKING 


41 


rival  the  Roman  armies  of  the  West  in  the  work  of 
making-  emperors.  They  took  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  Galba,  and  on  his  murder  they  accepted  Otho  with 
equal  readiness. (^'''^^  The  three  months'  reign  of  Otho, 
however,  did  not  seemingly  give  time  for  the  news  of 
his  accession  to  spread  over  Egypt  generally  beyond 
Alexandria  ;  coins  were  struck  there  for  him  at  the 
imperial  mint,  but  in  the  official  and  other  documents 
of  the  upper  country  no  emperor  is  usually  recognised 
between  Galba  and  Vespasian, (i*^"^)  and  Otho's  name 
appears  only  in  a  single  inscription  on  one  of  the 
temples  whose  erection  was  continued  through  all  the 
changes  of  rulers. 

VITELLIUS 
69. 

3.  The  news  of  the  proclamation  of  Vitellius  by  the 
troops  in  Germany,  however,  induced  the  Egyptian 
army  to  take  action,  and  they  joined  with  the  other 
legions  of  the  East  in  finding  a  candidate  of  their  own. 
In  less  than  three  months  after  the  death  of  Otho  and 
the  accession  of  Vitellius,  Vespasian,  who  had  already 
been  hailed  as  emperor  by  the  troops  under  his  com- 
mand in  Syria,  was  formally  proclaimed  at  Alexandria  [69.  July  I'^t 
by  the  prefect  Tiberius  Julius  Alexander. With 
the  support  of  all  the  legions  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  he 
was  secure  in  the  possession  of  the  East,  and  might 
have  starved  out  Rome  by  simply  cutting  off  the  Egyp- 
tian corn  supplies,  as  indeed  he  was  advised  to  do  by 
Mucianus.(^*^^^  But  be  preferred  to  take  more  spefedy 
measures,  and  sent  Mucianus  w^ith  his  own  son  Domi- 
tian  to  crush  the  forces  of  Vitellius  in  Italy. 


A  CEXTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a  d. 


i]  i] 

VESPASIAN  us. 
69-79. 

Iiiiihli)igs. — Karanis:  temple  of  Pncpheros. 
Latopolis  :  architrave.    Oasis  of  Dak- 
hi'l :  temple  of  Ammon  Ra. 
[The  gateway  of  the  temple  of  Pncpheros 
at  Karanis  was  dedicated  for  Vespasian. 
Apart  from  this,  his  name  only  appears 
on  minor  parts  of  buildings  in  progress. 
Iiiscriptio)is. — Hieroglyphic:   L. D.  iv.  81. 
Greek:    C.I.G.     iii.     4719;  E.E.F. 
Report,  1895-96,  p.  16,  Xo.  3;  P.S.B.A. 
xi.  p.   228.    Latin:  C.I.L.  iii.  31,  32, 
33,  34,  6603. 
C^Mr/vr.— P.S.B.A.    V.    pp.    84  ff.,  B.M. 
579:  d,  5790  d,  5791  j,  Leyden  ;  vii.  pp. 
No.  17  ;  C.I.G.  "iii.  4Sb3"b  ;  Louvre,  N.  et'E.,  Nos.  i,  2. 
Papyri.— ^.(^X.  184,  251,  594,  595,  597,  644;  Pap.  B.Mo  131, 
140,  260,  261,  282  ;  Petrie,  Hawara,  p.  36,  No.  381. 

4.  Vespasian  himself  proceeded  to  Alexandria,  that 
he  might  be  ready  to  adopt  the  plan  of  starv-ation,  if 
his  army  were  defeated. (^'^"^  Very  shortly  after  his 
arrival,  however,  he  received  the  news  of  the  defeat 
and  murder  of  Vitellius,  and  of  his  own  recognition  at 
Rome.^i*^^)  He  was  naturally  received  in  great  state  by 
the  Alexandrians,  who  had  not  been  favoured  with  the 
sight  of  a  Roman  emperor  since  the  departure  of 
Augustus  after  his  conquest,  and  must  have  felt  how 
greatly  the  position  of  their  city  was  changed  from 
that  which  it  held  in  the  days  when  it  was  the  home 
of  the  kings  of  Egypt.  So  Vespasian  found  himself 
treated  as  a  god.  A  blind  man,  and  one  with  a 
withered  hand,  came  to  him  to  be  healed,  in  accordance 
with  advice  which  they  said  they  had  received  from 
Sarapis  ;  and  the  report  went  abroad  that  he  succeeded 
in  restoring  them,  the  one  by  spitting  upon  his  eyelids, 
the  other  by  trampling  upon  him.  He  was  also  vouch- 
safed a  vision  in  the  temple  of  Sarapis,  where  he  saw 
Basilides,  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  Alexandria, 
who  was  actually  at  that  moment  lying  seriously  ill 
many  miles  away.^^^^^^ 

5.  But  the  Alexandrians  soon  found  out  that  their 


VESPASIAN  AND  THE  ALEXANDRIANS 


43 


god  was  essentially  a  man  of  business,  who  was  so 
careful  of  mundane  affairs  as  to  increase  the  taxes  and 
to  claim  payment  of  even  the  smallest  debt  from  his 
friends  ;  and  they  revenged  themselves  for  their 
disenchantment  by  returning  to  the  habits  of  scurrility 


Fig.  31. — Karanis  :  Gateway  of  Vespasian  in  Temple  of  Pneplieros 
and  Petesouchos.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


with  which  they  amused  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
their  rulers.  A  tax  upon  salt  fish  won  for  V^espasian 
the  name  of  Kybiosaktes,  and  his  anxiety  about  a  loan 
of  six  obols,  that  of  ''the  six-oboller."  He  replied  to 
these  witticisms  characteristically  enough,  by  ordering 
a  poll  tax  of  six  obols  to  be  laid  on  the  Alexandrians, 


•^4 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 


who  had  hitherto  been  exempt  from  the  direct  taxation 
to  which  all  other  inhabitants  of  Ei^^ypt  were  liable  ; 
but  his  son  Titus  intervened,  and  secured  a  pardon  for 
the  city.(i"^) 

6.  The  two  legions,  the  III   Cyrenaica  and  XXII 
70A.P.]  Deiotariana,  which  formed  the  chief  part  of  the  Roman 
g-arrison  of  Egypt,  were  summoned  from  Alexandria  to 


Fig.  32. — Alexandria:  "Cleopatra's  Needle  "and  Roman 
tower.    (Description  de  I'Egypte.) 


reinforce  the  army  w^hich  was  besieging  Jerusalem. (1"^) 
They  remained  there  until  the  fall  of  the  city,  when 
they  were  apparently  accompanied  back  to  Egypt  by 
Titus,  who  had  taken  his  father's  place  as  commander 
against  the  Jews.  During  his  visit  to  Egypt  he  showed 
the  same  regard  for  the  feelings  of  the  people  which 


rOPULARITY  OF  TITUS 


45 


had  formerly  led  him  to  intercede  with  his  father  on 
behalf  of  the  Alexandrians  :  he  attended  the  conse- 
cration of  a  new  Apis  bull  at  Memphis,  and  lent  to  it 
the  honour  of  an  imperial  presence,  by  appearing  in 


Fig.  33. — Roman  Stele  :  in  Ghizeh  Museum. 
(Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


state,  crowned  with  a  diadem.  This  action,  however, 
while  calculated  to  increase  the  popularity  of  the 
Roman  government  in  Egypt  by  the  countenance  given 
to  the  national  religion,  was  viewed  with  disfavour  at 
Rome,  as  if  it  betokened  a  desire  to  seize  the  crown 
prematurely. 


46 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 


TITUS. 
79-81. 

Buildings. — Latopolis  :  south  and  east 
walls  of  temple.  Oasis  of  Dakhel : 
])()rlal   and    sanctuary   of    temple  of 


and 

Amnion  Ra 
[Under  Titus,  the  only 
are  continuations.] 
Inscripfi(>?is. — Hierog'lyphic  : 

(ireck  :  App.  iii.  6. 
Papyri, — Petrie,  Hawara,  p 
'G.O.P.  i.  16;;. 


building's  recorded 
L.D.  iv.  81. 
36,  No.  321  ; 


7.  Titus,  however,  who  was  the  first  Roman  emperor, 
with  the  possible  exception  of 
Nero,  to  show  any  tendency 
towards  a  truly  imperial  policy 
in  his  dealings  with  the  nations 
of  the  Greek  East,  and  to 
forsake  the  old  traditions  of 
treating  them  as  mere  slaves 
of   Rome,  did   not  live  long 


Fig.  34. — Titus  :  Latopolis, 


enough  to  exercise  much  influence  on  the  destinies  of 
the  Empire. 

DOMITIANUS. 
81-96. 

Buildings.  —  Koptos  :  bridge.  Latopolis  : 
east  wall  and  columns  of  temple.  Ku»i- 
er-Resras  :  temple  of  Isis.  Kysis  :  back 
wall  of  temple. 
[The  bridge  over  the  canal  at  Koptos  was 
wholly  rebuilt  under  Domitian.  The 
work  done  on  temples  was  in  continua- 
tion.] 

Liscriptions. — Hieroglyphic  :    L.D.    iv.  81. 
Greek  :  C.I.G.  iii.  5042,  5043,  5044  ;  Petrie, 
Koptos,  c.  vi.,  No.  4  ;  (mentioned)  E.E.  F. 
Report,  1893-94,  p.  10.    Latin :  C.I.L. 
'ii-  35.  36,  37;  Priv.  Vet.  15,  18;  Petrie, 
Koptos,  c.  vi.,  No.  3. 
.  pp.  84  ff.,  B.M.  57900,  5790  aj,  5789  f,  5788  e, 
pp.  I  iff.,  Nos.  23,  24,  pp.  89  ff.,  Nos.  I,  2. 
190,  260,  526,  536,  596;  G.G.P.  ii.  42,  43; 
C.P.R.  I,  12  ;  G.O.P.  i.  45,  48,  72,  72a,  73,  94,  104,  174,  175  ; 
Pap.  B.M.  14J,  142,  163,  2j6,  257.  258,  259,  285,  286,  287,  289, 


P.S.B.A.  V. 

5790  h,  5791  i  ;  vii 
Papyri.— "^.GX^.  183 


290. 


LOCAL  DIVINITIES 


47 


Fig.  35. — Domitian 
Latopolis. 


8.  The  recog-nition  of  local  deities,  which  had  been 
semi-officially  begun  by  Titus,  was 
carried  further  under  Domitian,  by  the 
issue  of  coins  at  Alexandria  with  the 
names  of,  and  types  specially  belong- 
ing to,  the  several  nomes. (^'^^^  The 
vigour  of  the  various  centres  of  wor- 
ship, and  the  amount  of  hatred  engen- 
dered thereby  between  the  inhabitants 
of  the  nomes  to  which  they  belonged, 
is  illustrated  by  an  anecdote  recorded 
by  Juvenal,  who  during  this  reign 
was  sent  to  hold  a  subordinate  com- 
mand in  the  camp  at  Syene.  He  tells  how  the  men 
of  the  neighbouring  towns  of  Tentyra  and  Ombos 
in  the  Thebaid,  the  first  of  which  persecuted  the 
crocodile,  while  the  second  worshipped  it,  took  the 
opportunity  of  a  festival  to  have  a  fight ;  and  one  of 
the  Ombites,  who  was  caught  while  his  fellows  were 
running  away,  was  killed  and  eaten  by  the  Tenty- 
rites.*^^"^)  A  more  serious  instance  is  preserved  by 
Plutarch,  with  reference  to  the  towns  of  Oxyrhynchos 
and  Kynopolis,  in  the  Heptanomis,  where  the  Roman 
troops  had  to  be  called  in  to  put  a  stop  to  a  war  which 
had  arisen  in  consequence  of  insults  offered  by  the 
inhabitants  of  either  district  to  the  god  of  their  neigh- 
bours.(^"^^ 

9.  At  Alexandria,  however,  the  worship  of  Isis  and 
Sarapis  had  long  overshadowed  that  of  all  the  other 
Egyptian  gods  ;  and  from  Alexandria  the  influence  of 
these  cults  had  spread  into  Italy,  where  they  had  gradu- 
ally become  fashionable  in  spite  of  the  endeavours  of 
the  government  to  suppress  them  ;  until  Domitian  him- 
self erected  temples  to  Isis  and  Sarapis  in  Rome.^^''^) 


48 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a. d. 


NERVA. 

96-98. 


Building. — Latopolis  :  columns  of  temple. 

[The  only  building-  recorded  under  Nerva  was  that  of  the  temple 
of  Latopolis,  which  was  proceeding-  continuously.] 

Inscriptions. — Hieroglyphic:  L. D.  iv.  82.  Latin:  P.S.B.A.  xviii. 
p.  107. 

Ostrakon. — P.S.B.A.  v.  pp.  124  ff.,  B.M.  5790  w. 
Papyrus. — Pap.  B.AL  143. 


TRAJAN  US. 
98-117. 


Buildings. — Panopolis  :  propylon  of  temple  of  Khem.  Tentyra  : 
prop^  lon  ;  Typhonium.  Latopolis  :  columns.  Philae  :  temple 
O.  Elephantine  :  Mammisi  temple.  Talmis :  west  wall  of 
second  court  and  forecourt  of  temple.  Kysis  :  pylon  of  temple 
of  Sarapis  and  Isis, 

[The  buildings  completed  in  the  reign  of  Trajan  were  the  temple 
of  Philaj,  the  propylon  of  the  great  temple  at  Tentyra,  the 
pylon  dedicated  at  Kysis,  and  the  propylon  at  Panopolis. 
The  other  works  mentioned  were  still  in  progress  at  his  death.] 


REDUCTION  OF  GARRISON 


49 


Inscn'ptiotis. — Hieroglyphic:  L. D.  iv.  82,  83,  84,  85;  Cat.  des 
Mons.  p.  113.  Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  47i3e,  4714,  4716c,  4823, 
4824,  4843,  4984;  M.A.  15,  70,  100;  App.  iii.  7,  8;  R.A.  1889, 
p.  70;  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107.    Latin:  C.I.L.  iii.  24,  25,  38,  79. 

Ostraka.—C.l.G.  iii.  4864,  4865,  4866;    P.S.B.A.  v.  pp.  i24ff., 

B.  M.  5790 w,  5819c,  5791  t,  5791  V,  5791  u,  5790k,  5790m, 
5790  y,  5788  f,  5790  f,  5790  g->  5790 1.  5790  ».  57900,  5791s, 
5790 1,  5790  a,  5790  s,  57886,  5788  b,  5791  f,  5790b,  57901, 
579x6,  coll.  Aquila  Dodgson ;  vii.  pp.  iiff.,  Nos.  25,  25  a, 
pp.  195  ff.,  Nos.  2,  3,  4,  5;  ix.  p.  198,  No.  i;  R^.E.  iv. 
p.  183,  L.  7648;  Louvre,  N.  et  E.,  No.  3;  Lumbroso,  Docu- 
rnenti  Gr.  del  Mus.  Egiz.  di  Torino,  vii.  i. 

Papyri. — B.G. L^.  22,  44,  50,  68,  101,  140,  163,  196,  213,  226,  232, 
252,  281,  350,  360,  415,  418,  446,  538,  715,^718;  G.G.P.  ii.  44; 

C.  P.R.  II,  13,  28,  170,  171  ;  Petrie,  Hawara,  p.  36,  Nos.  132, 
223,  298,  303;  G.O.P.  i.  46,  49,  50,  74,  97,  176;  Pap.  B.M. 
171a,  172,  173,  191,  202,  293,  476a;  Louvre,  N.  et  E.  68. 


10.  Except  at  times  of  festivals,  the  Egyptians  gener- 
ally were  quiet  enough  ;  so  that  at  some  date  during  the 


Fig,  36. — Nerva:  Latopolis.  Fig.  37. — Trajan:  Latopolis. 


reign  of  Trajan  the  Roman  garrison  was  reduced  by  the 
withdrawal  of  one  of  the  two  legions  which  had  been 
V— 4 


50  A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 

up  till  then  maintained  in  EgyptS^'^'^^  Even  a  famine, — 
usually  the  sig^nal  for  disturbances, — which  was  caused 
by  the  failure  of  the  Nile  to  rise  to  a  sufficient  height 
in  flood,  passed  quietly  ;  partly  through  the  prompt 


Fig.  38.— Philoe  :  Temple  of  Trajan. 


measures  taken  by  the  emperor,  who  sent  back  to  Alex- 
andria a  fleet  loaded  with  Egyptian  corn  from  the  stores 
accumulated  in  the  public  granaries. ^^^^^ 


RISING  OF  THE  JEWS  51 
II.  But  at  Alexandria  there  were  always  elements  of 


Fig.  40.— Tentyra :  Gateway  of  Trajan. 


52 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 


disturbance  ready  in  the  mutual  hatred  of  the  Greeks 
and  Jews.  The  crushing  poHcy  adopted  towards  the 
whole  Jewish  nation  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
had  kept  them  quiet  for  a  while.    A  local  rising  in 

115  A.n.]  Alexandria  was  easily  put  down  by  the  government; 

116  A. I).]  but  in  the  following  year,  while  the  greater  part  of  the 

Eastern  legions  were  away  with  the  emperor,  engaged 
in  the  Parthian  war,  there  was  a  general  revolt  of  the 
Jews  in  Egypt,  Cyprus,  and  Cyrene,  and  to  some  extent 
also  in  Palestine  and  Mesopotamia.   They  massacred  all 


Fig,  41. — Trajan  :  Philre. 


the  Greeks  who  fell  into  their  power,  and  succeeded  in 
driving  the  rest  into  Alexandria,  while  they  dominated 
the  open  country.  The  Greeks,  besieged  in  Alexandria, 
retaliated  by  putting  to  death  any  Jews  who  had  re- 
mained in  the  city  ;  but  they  were  unable  to  raise  the 
siege  until  Marcius  Turbo  arrived  with  an  army  and 
fleet  specially  sent  to  suppress  the  rising  in  Egypt 
and  Cyrene.  Even  then  it  needed  a  number  of  battles 
to  break  the  spirit  of  the  Jews,  and  the  struggle 
went  on  for  some  months  ;  but  gradually  all  those  of 


FORTRESS  OF  BABYLON 


S3 


them  who  survived  were  driven  into  the  desert,  there 
to  take  up  the  profession  of  robbers.  In  Alexandria, 
the  Jewish  population  was  practically  annihilated.  In 


Fig.  42. — Ronian  fortress  of  Babylon.    (Descripiion  de  I'Egypte.) 


consequence  of  these  disturbances.  Turbo  rebuilt  the 
fortress  of  Babylon,  which  served  also  to  g^uard  the 
head  of  the  canal  which  Trajan  cut  from  the  Nile  to 
the  Red  Sea.d^f) 


54 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 
HADRIANUS. 


1 17-138. 


^  W 

0 

Buildings. — Antinoopolis.  Teiityra  :  Typhonium.  Latopolis  :  hy- 
postyle.  Philse  :  temple  G.  Mons  Claudianus  :  temple  of 
Zeus  Helios  Sarapis. 

[The  temple  at  Mons  Claudianus  was  probably  a  work  of  the 
reig-n  of  Trajan  and  Hadrian.  The  Typhonium  at  Tentyra 
does  not  appear  to  have  had  any  further  work  done  on  it 
after  this  time.  No  inscriptions  of  Hadrian  have  been  found 
among-  the  ruins  of  Antinoopolis  ;  but  the  town  was  certainly 
planned,  and  its  building-  commenced,  by  him.] 

Inscriptions. — Hierogh'phic  :  L.D.  iv.  85,  86,  87.  Greek:  C.I.G. 
iii.  4713  f,  4721,  4722,  4723,  4724,  4725,  4726,  4728,  4732,  5081  ; 
M.A.  (unnumbered) ;  R.A.  1870,  p.  314.  Latin  :  C.I.L.  iii.  39, 
41,  42,  43,  44,  45,  77. 

Ostraka.—CA.G.  iii.  4867,  4868,  4869,  4870,  4871;  P.S.B.A.  v. 
pp.  158  ff.,  B.M.  5790  e,  i,  1,  p,  s,  u,  5791  a,  g-,  h,  k,  I,  n,  5788  c, 
12,642,  coll.  C.  Appleton  ;  vi.  pp.  207  ff.,  Nos,  1,  2  ;  ix.  p.  198, 
Nos.  2,  3  ;  Louvre,  N.  et  E.  4 ;  Lumbroso,  Documenti  Gr. 
del  Mus.  Egiz.  di  Torino,  vii.  3,  5. 

Papyri.— ^.Q,.\].  19,  53,  69,  70,  73,  109,  114,  136,  176,  182,  193, 
231.  234,  250,  339,  352,  394,  420,  457,  459,  464,  465,  581,  647, 
706,  742,  755;  G.G.P.  ii.  45,  45a,  46;  C.P.R.  17,  18,  24,  25, 
26,  173,  178,  223,  240;  Petrie,  Hawara,  p.  36,  Nos.  83,  116, 
166,  418;  G.O.P.  i.  34  V,  68,  75,95,  100,  105,  106,  107,  188; 
Pap.  B.M.  201  a,  208a,  254,  255,  295,  297b,  298,  299,  300. 

12.  These  disturbances,  which  had  not  yet  been 
quelled  when  Hadrian  succeeded  to  the  throne,  had 
wrought  great  damage  to  the  buildings  of  Alexandria  ; 
and  when,  in  the  course  of  his  travels  over  the  empire, 
]  he  reached  Egypt,  he  found  ample  opportunity  for 
gratifying  his  passion  for  architecture  in  restoring  and 


HADRIAN  AT  ALEXANDRIA  55 

renewing  the  temples  and  other  public  edifices  of  the 
capital.(iso) 


Fig.  43.— Hadrian  :  Philae. 


13.  His  patronag-e  was  also  extended  to  philosophy, 
in  the  persons  of  the  professors  of  the  Museum  ;  with 
whom  he  held  discussions. ^^^^^  The  advantage,  how- 
ever, which  might  possibly  have  been  gained  from  such 
imperial  condescension,  was  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  presentation  to  sinecure  professorships  at  Alex- 
andria of  wandering  sophists,  who  were  apparently  not 
required  even  to  reside,  much  less  to  lecture,  but  only 
gave  the  glory  of  their  names  to  the  Museum  in  return 


56 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 


for  their  salaries.  Such  were  Polemon  of  Laodicea 
and  Dionysios  of  Miletos/^^-^ 

14.  The  visit  of  Hadrian  to  Eg-ypt  unquestionably 
resulted  in  an  artistic  revival  under  Greek  influence, 
which  had  been  waning  since  the  second  century  before 
Christ  until  this  date.  This  revival  is  shown  most 
markedly  in  the  coinage,  the  types  and  style  of  which 
had  been  under  Trajan  strongly  Egyptian  in  character. 


Fig.  44. — Mummy  portrait :  from  Hawara. 


but  suddenly  revert  to  Hellenism  after  the  fifth  year 
of  Hadrian. (1^^)  Another  instance  may  be  found 
in  the  series  of  mummy  cases  from  several  Roman 
cemeteries  in  the  Fayum,  notably  those  of  Hawara 
and  Rubaiyyat ;  on  w^hich  the  formal  face  modelled 
in  wood  or  plaster  is  replaced,  about  this  time,  by 
a  portrait  of  the  deceased  person  whose  body  was 
inside  the  mummy  case  ;  and  these  portraits,  executed 


REVIVAL  OF  GREEK  INFLUENCE  57 


DEATH  OF  ANTINOUS 


59 


in  wax,  show  distinctly  the  traditions  of  Hellenistic 
art.(i84) 

15.  Hadrian  was,  however,  a  student  of,  and  believer 
in.  Oriental  as  well  as  Greek  ideas  ;  and  his  curiously 
eclectic  disposition  is  well  illustrated  by  the  fate  of 
Antinous.  This  youth,  a  favourite  of  the  emperor, 
was  accompanying-  him  on  his  voyage  up  the  Nile. 
According  to  the  commonly  received  account,  Hadrian 
had  consulted  the  Egyptian  astrologers,  who  promised 
him  some  prolongation  of  life  or  fortune  if  he  would 
sacrifice  his  most  cherished  possession  ;  and  thereon 
Antinous  drowned  himself,  or  was  drowned,  to  secure 
the  fulfilment  of  the  promise. Whatever  the  exact 
circumstances  of  his  death  were,  he  was  honoured 
by  Hadrian  with  a  memorial  in  the  shape  of  a  city, 
named  after  him  Antinoopolis,  built  in  Greek  fashion 
and  granted  a  constitution  on  the  Greek  model ;  while 
he  was  made  the  hero-god  of  the  district,  which  was 
constituted  into  an  Antinoite  nome.  The  emperor,  to 
secure  the  prosperity  of  his  new  city,  constructed  a 
road  from  it  across  the  desert  to  the  Red  Sea,  ending 
at  Berenike  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  any  important 
part,  of  the  Indian  trade  was  diverted  along  this  line 
from  the  old-established  route  through  Koptos.^^^*^) 

16.  A  second  visit  was  paid  to  Egypt  nine  years  [131  a.d. 


Fig.  48. — Cartouche 
of  Sabina. 


later  by  the  emperor  with  his  wife  Sabina.  But  little 
is  recorded  of  this  visit  beyond  the  names  of  Hadrian 


6o 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 


and  his  followers  scratched  on  the  northern  colossus  at 
Thebes,  which  they  visited,   according-  to  the  usual 


Fig.  49.  -  llcKli  iaii  approach- 
ing Alexandria. 
(British  Museum.) 


Fig.  50.  -  li.idnan  greeted 
by  Alexandria. 
(British  ^Museum.) 


custom  of  Roman  tourists  in  Egypt,  to  hear  the  musical 
sounds  which  proceeded  from  it  at  sunrise. ^^^''^ 


ANTONINUS  PIUS 
138-161. 

Bidldings. — Alexandria  :  g-ates  to  east  and 
west.    Tentyra  :  east  door.  Apollino- 
polis  Parva  :    peribolos  of  temple  of 
Harpokrates.      Thebes :    antehall  of 
small  temple  of  Medinet  Habu.  Lato- 
polis  :    scuptures.      Syene  :  basilica. 
Tchonemyris  :   sekos  and  pronaos  of 
temple  of  Amenebis. 
[The  inscription  of  Antoninus  is  the  latest 
that  is  found  on  the  temple  of  Medinet 
Habu.     The  work  done  at  Tchone- 
myris  and   Apollinopolis   Parva  was 
rebuilding-.     The  gates  of  Alexandria 
are  mentioned  by  Malala  (xi.  280)  and 
John  of  Nikiou  (c.  74).] 
Inscriptio7is. — Hieroglyphic:  L.D.  iv.  87.    Demotic:  L.D.  vi.  30. 
Greek  :  C.I.G.  ili.  4683  b,  4713  b,  4766,  4831,  4832,  4955,  5050; 
App.  iii.  9,  10,  11  ;  Rec.  Trav.  xvi.  p.  44.      Latin:  C.I.L. 


iii.  662!^. 
Ostraka.—CA 


.G.  iii.  4873,  4874,  4875,  4876,  4877,  4878,  4879,  4880, 


4881,  4882,  4883,  4884,  4884b  ;  P.S.B.A.  V.  pp.  158  ff.,  B.M. 
5790  f,  t,  5851  a,  12,070,12,460;  vi.  pp.  207  flf.,  Nos.  3, 4 ;  Louvre, 
N.  et  E.,  Nos.  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11;  Lumbroso,  Documenti 
Greci  del  Mus.  Egiz.  di  Torino,  vii.  4. 


DISTURBANCES  AT  ALEXANDRIA 


6i 


Papyri.— B.G.U.  5,  6,  16,  17,  20,  31,  51,  52,  55,  78,  85,  86,  87,  88, 
90.  95'  99'  ^oo,  102,  104,  105,  107,  no,  in,  113,  133,  134,  135, 
137,  142,  143,  152,  153,  155,  160,  t66,  167,  169-172,  188,  191, 
201-212,  214,  227,  239,  254,  256,  257,  262,  263,  265,  272,  273, 
278-280,  284,  285,  288-290,  293,  294,  299-301,  328-331,  340, 

348,  353-355'  357.  358,  372,  39''  416,  422,  4^7' 438-443' 453' 
402,463,468,469,472,488,489,  492,512,516,517,524,  544,  545, 
587'  593'  610,  613,  619,  626,  635,  638,  645,  661,  696,  697,  702, 
704,  710,  717,  720,  723,  729,  741,  747  ;  Pap.  Gen.  5,  6,  8,  8 bis; 
G.G.P.  i,  47,  ii.  46  a,  47,  48,  49,  50  a,  50  b,  50  c,  51,  52,  53  a,  54  ; 
C.P.R.  15,  22,  23,  31,  193,  194,  206,  230;  Louvre,  N.  et  E.  17, 
19,  19  bis;  Petrie,  Hawara,  p.  36,  No.  116;  G.O.P.  i.  89,  98, 
loi,  171  ;  Pap.  B.M.  178,  T96,  296,  301,  303-310,  312-321,  323, 
358,  376,  438,  466,  469  a  ;  Rivista  Egiziana,  1894,  p.  529. 

17.  The  reig-n  of  Antoninus  passed  peaceably  in  Eg-ypt, 
with  the  exception  of  an  outbreak  among  the  Alex- 


FiG.  51. — Antoninus  Pius  :  Tentyra. 


62 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY 


[68-182  A.D. 


andrians,  in  which  the  prefect — probably  M.  Sempronius 
LiberaHs — was  killed.  This  disturbance  is  said  to  have 
broug-ht  upon  the  city  the  severe  displeasure  of  the 
emperor  ;  but  he  is  also  reported  to  have  subsequently 
visited  Alexandria,  and  to  have  built  a  hippodrome  and 
the  g"ates  known  as  those  of  the  Sun  and  of  the  Moon, 
which  were  at  the  east  and  west  ends  of  the  main 
street  which  intersected  the  city.^^^^^ 

18.  In  the  first  year  of  Antoninus  was  celebrated  the 
completion  of  a  Sothiac  period  of  1460 
years,  when  the  new  year's  day  of  the 
movable  calendar  had  come  round  to 
the  day  on  which  the  dog-star  Sirius 
:  rose  heliacally.  The  particular  year 
was  probably  decided  for  political 
considerations,  as  the  astronomers 
^SifoVTwXus  ^Sreed  upon  the  results  of 

Pius.  (Bodleian.)    their  observations. ^^^^^ 


MARCUS  AURELIUS. 
161-180. 


L.  VERUS. 
161-169. 


completed  in  this  reign,  as  the  inscri 
latest  found  there.] 
hiscriptions. — Hieroglyphic  :  L.  D.  iv.  87, 
4701,  4704,  4712,  4767.    Latin  :  C.I.L. 
xviii.  p.  107. 


Bu  ild ifigs.  —  B  u  s  i  r  i  s  : 
temple  repaired.  An- 
taeopolis  :  temple  re- 
built. Latopolis  : 
outer  west  wall  of 
temple.  Philae  :  tem- 
ple G. 

[The  building  at  Lato- 
polis still  continued. 
At  Busiris  and  An- 
taeopolis  old  work 
was  repaired.  The 
erection  of  temple  G 
at  Philse  was  perhaps 
ption  of  Aurelius  is  the 

,  88.  Greek:  C.I.G.  iii. 
iii.  13,49,  67  ;  P.S.B.A. 


BUCOLIC  REVOLT 


63 


Osfraka.—C.l.G.  Hi.  4888;  P.S.B.A.  vii.  pp.  195  ff.,  No.  7; 
Louvre,  N.  et  E.,  No.  13. 

Papyri.— B.G.V.  18,  26,  49,  55-59'  66,  74,  77,  79,  80,  91,  119,  123, 
127,  154,  194,  195,  198,  219,  224,  225,  233,  238,  240,  241,  282, 
283,  298,  302,  324,  327,  347,  359,  387,  393,  410,  414,  421,  431, 
434i  461,  513.  5T4»  5^0'  521,  5^5'  537'  5V,  54^,  59^'  603,  604, 
607,  629,  631,  654,  666,  708,  722;  Pap.  Gen.  3;  G.G.P.  ii. 
5od,  5oe,  5of,53b,  53c,  53d,  53e,53f,  55,56,  57,  58,  io8;C.P.R. 
5,  14,  16,  246;  Petrie,  Hawara,  p.  36,  No.  401  ;  G.O.P.  i.  51, 
62^^,  76,  88,  90,  173  ;  Pap.  B.M.  168,  170,  182  b,  198,  206  c,  324, 
325'  327-340,  368,  47O'  471- 

19.  The  unusual  event  of  a  revolt  among*  the  native 
Eg-yptians,  as  distinct  from  the 
Alexandrians,  occurred  under 
Marcus  Aurelius.  The  disturbance 
began  among-  the  Bucolic  troops, 
who  were  recruited  from  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and 
employed  for  home  service.  It 
soon  assumed  a  national  and 
religious  character.  The  leader  of 
the  rebels  was  a  priest,  Isidoros, 
and  he  administered  to  his  fol- 
lowers, when  they  took  the  oath 
of  fidelity,  the  flesh  of  a  Roman 
officer  whom  they  had  captured 
and  slain, — an  act  of  ceremonial  cannibalism  which 
was  typically  Egyptian.  The  Roman  troops  were 
defeated,  and  Alexandria  almost  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  insurgents  ;  even  when  Avidius  Cassius  came 
from  Syria  with  reinforcements,  he  was  unable  to 
meet  them  in  battle,  but  devoted  himself  to  sowing 
dissensions  in  their  ranks  ;  and  by  these  means  he  was 
able  to  break  up  their  league,  and  crush  the  separate 
bands  in  detail. d^o) 

20.  Very  shortly  after  the  suppression  of  this  rebel-  [175  a  d. 
lion,  came  a  military  revolt,  at  the  head  of  which  the 
victorious  general  Avidius  Cassius  found  himself.  He 

was  said  to  have  been  intriguing  with  the  empress 
Faustina,  in  the  hope  of  seizing  the  imperial  power 
after  the  death  of  Aurelius  ;  but  a  false  report  that 


Fig.  53. — Aurelius: 
Latopolis. 


64 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 


this  event  had  occurred,  led  him  to  allow  his  troops  to 
proclaim  him  emperor.  Leaving  his  son  Mcecianus  in 
Alexandria  to  take  charge  of  Egypt,  he  went  to  Syria 
to  win  over  the  army  there,  and  was  promptly  acknow- 
ledged by  them.  But  the  revolt  collapsed  as  rapidly 
as  it  arose :  while  Aurelius  was  preparing  for  war, 
Cassius  was  killed  by  a  centurion,  and  Maecianus  like- 
wise put  to  death  by  the  troops  in  Alexandria. (^^^^ 


Fig.  54. — Ant?eopolis  :  Temple.    (Description  de  I'Egypte.) 


21.  The  emperor,  notwithstanding  this  collapse, 
visited  the  East  ;  but  the  rebels  escaped  without  severe 
punishment.  Most  were  rewarded  for  their  timely 
submission  by  a  free  pardon  ;  and  even  those  most 
deeply  implicated,  such  as  the  children  of  Cassius 
and  Gaius  Calvisius  Statianus,  the  prefect  of  Egypt, 
escaped  with  fines  and  banishment. 


GROWTH  OF  TRADE 


65 


COMMODUS. 
180-192. 

Buildings. — Karanis :  temple  of  Pnepheros. 
Latopolis  :  west  wall  and  colonnades  of 
temple. 

[The  work  done  at  the  temple  of  Karanis  con- 
sisted in  restoration  of  the  propylon.] 
Inscriptio)is.—W\^vo^\y\)\\\C'.  L. D.  iv.  88,  89. 
Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4683;  E.E.F.  Report, 
1895-96, p.  16,  No.  4.  Latin:  C. I. L.  iii. 49. 
6)5'/mZ'<7.— P.S.B.A.  vi.  pp.  207  ff.,  No.  5  ;  vii. 

pp.  195 ff.,  No.  6. 
Papyri. — B.G.U.  12,  28,  39,  60,  71,  72,  81, 
82,  92,  115-118,  120,  124,  126,  128,  129,  138,  188,  200,  242,  243, 
264,  270,  342,  361,  432,  433,  506,  515,  578,  590,  622,  649,  651, 
658,  662,  731;  Pap.  Gen.  18;  G.G.P.  i.  48;  ii.  50  g-,  50  h, 
501,  53  g-.  59;  C.P.R.  27,  29,  174;  G.O.P.  69,  79,  91,  96,  166, 
185;  Pap,  B.M.  166 b,  341-3435  439>  460,  472. 
22.  The  clemency  of  Aurelius  did  not  long  avail  the 


family  of  Cassius,  as  one  of 
the  first  acts  of  Commodus,  on 
his  accession,  was  to  put  them 
to  death.(i93) 


23.  During-  the  greater  part 
of  the  period  now  under  review, 
the  prosperity  of  Egypt  appears 
to  have  been  well  maintained 
at  the  level  which  it  reached 
under  Nero.  The  broader 
views  of  imperialism  which  he 
first  put  into  practice  encour- 
aged the  development  of  the 
provinces  ;  and  a  similarly  en- 
lightened policy  was  pursued 
by  his  successors.  The  trade 
with  the  East  continued  to  ex- 
tend ;  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus 
or  Aurelius,  Roman  merchants 
had  got  as  far  as  China  ;  ^^^"^^  and  the  voyage  to  India  had 
been  shortened  by  the  discovery  of  the  monsoon  and  the 
consequent  abandonment  of  the  coast  for  the  direct  route 
across  the  open  sea  from  the  Arabian  Gulf  to  India.  The 


Fig.  55. — Commodus 
Latopolis. 


66 


A  CENTURY  OF  PROSPERITY        [68-182  a.d. 


amount  of  the  Eastern  trade  is  shown  by  Pliny,  who 
estimated  the  annual  value  of  the  imports  from  Arabia 
and  India  at  one  hundred  millions  of  sesterces  ;  (i''^)  and 
alternative  routes  for  the  land  journey,  in  addition  to 
the  recognised  ones  from  Myoshormos  and  Berenike  to 
Koptos,  were  provided  by  Trajan,  who  renewed  the  canal 
connecting  the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea,  and  by  Hadrian, 
in  his  road  from  Berenike  to  his  new^  foundation  of 
Antinoopolis.  This  trade  was  now  chiefly  in  Egyptian 
hands,  and  its  profits  went  to  enrich  the  country. 
Agreeably  with  the  development  of  trade,  the  rate 
of  interest  dropped  to  ten  or  twelve  per  cent.  ;  (i^^)  ^nd 
the  issue  of  coinage  continued  to  be  steadily  plentiful, 
while  the  standard  was  kept  up  alike  in  fineness  and 
in  weight.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of 
Antoninus,  complaints  began  to  be  made  about  the 
pressure  of  taxation.  The  first  instance  preserved  of 
a  decree  of  the  prefect,  ordering  those  who  had  left 
their  villages  in  order  to  escape  the  burden  of  liturgies 
to  return  home,  and  promising  a  remission  of  out- 
standing debts  to  those  who  obeyed,  is  dated  in  the 
154  A.D.]  seventeenth  year  of  Antoninus  ;  (^'•"^  but  shortly  after- 
wards, similar  decrees  seem  to  have  become  frequent. 
The  Bucolic  w^ar  dealt  a  serious  blow  to  the  agriculture 
of  Egypt ;  spread  as  it  was  over  several  years  and  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  country,  while  the  rebellious 
troops  were  drawn  from  the  native  cultivators  of  the 
ground,  its  effects  were  far  more  serious  than  those 
of  the  only  similar  war  which  had  occurred  in  Egypt 
since  the  Roman  rule  had  been  firmly  established — the 
Jewish  revolt  under  Trajan,  which  did  not  concern  the 
Egyptians  so  much  as  the  Romans  and  Greeks  of  the 
ruling  classes.  And  the  results  are  shown  by  the  fact 
that  the  corn  supply  from  Egypt  to  Rome  had,  under 
Commodus,  to  be  supplemented  by  the  institution  of  an 
African  corn  fleet. ^^^^^  There  was  also  a  distinct  drop 
in  the  standard  of  the  coinage.  The  mournful  reference, 
in  a  letter  of  about  this  period,  to  the  hardness  of  the 
times,  probably  gives  accurately  enough  the  general 
feeling  of  the  Egyptian  farmers. 


CHAPTER  IV 


The  Decay  of  the  Provincial  System 

PERTINAX. 
193- 

Papyri.— B.G.U.  646;  Pap.  B.M.  473.    [B.G.U.  46,  dated 
in  his  reign,  was  written  alter  his  death.] 

1.  The  short  reigri  of  Pertinax  was  recog-nised  by  the 
Egyptians  ;  and  incidentally  the  documents  dated  by 
it  give  evidence  of  the  length  of  time  which  it  took 
for  news  to  travel  from  Rome  to  Egypt,  He  was  pro- 
claimed emperor  at  Rome  on  ist  January  ;  and  on  6th 
March  the  prefect  of  Egypt  issued  orders  for  a  fifteen 
days'  festival  in  celebration  of  his  accession  ;  a  decree, 
the  issue  of  which  would  naturally  have  been  the  first 
act  of  the  authorities  on  hearing  of  the  event  it  com- 
memorated.He  was  murdered  on  28th  March  ; 
but  on  19th  May  this  fact  was  still  unknown  in  the 
Fayum,  as  an  official  document  was  then  dated  with 
his  name.  ^2^-^ 

DIDIUS  JULIAXUS. 
193- 

[PESCENXIUS  NIGER.] 
[193-194-] 

[Oslrakon. — P.S.B.A.  vii.  pp.  195  ff.,  No.  33. 
Papyri.— B.G.U.  454;  G.G.P.  ii.  60.] 

2.  The  successor  of  Pertinax  at  Rome,  Didius 
Julianus,  was  not,  however,  accepted  in  Egypt.  No 

67 


68       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


coins  were  struck  for  him  by  the  Alexandrian  mint, 
nor  has  his  name  been  found  in  any  papyrus.  The 
Eg-yptians  had  their  own  candidate  for  the  throne  in 
Pescennius  Niger,  the  Roman  general  in  Syria,  who 


had  won  popularity  among-st  them  while  he  com- 
manded the  troops  at  Syene,  who  guarded  the  frontier 


NIGER  AS  RIVAL  EMPEROR 


69 


against  the  wandering-  tribes  of  the  desert  ;  the  reason 
for  this  popidarity  being-  the  firm  hand  with  which  he 
kept  his  men  in  order,  and  prevented  them  from 
plundering,  according  to  the  usual  custom,  those 
whom  they  were  set  to  protect.  He  was  declared 
emperor  by  the  Syrian  legions,  and  the  Egyptian  army 
and  people  joined  his  side.^^^^^ 


SEVERUS. 
193-21 1. 

BtiUdings.  —  Latopolis  :    north  and  south 
walls. 

Inscriptions. — Hierogflyphic  :  L.  D.  iv.  89. 
Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4680,  4863,  4980, 
4981,  4982,  4983,  4984;  Petrie,  Koptos, 
ch.  vi.,  No.  5  ;  M.A.  72.  Latin  :  C.I.L. 
iii.  14,  15,  50,  51,  52,  6580. 
Ostraka. — C.I.G.  iii.  5109^,  5109^;  P.S.B.A. 
vii.  pp.  195  ff.,  No.  32. 


Papyri.— E.Qx.\J.  2, 


15'  25,  41,  42,  45, 


10  *5 


61,  62,  63,  67,  97,  98,  106,  108,  121,  139, 
156,  199,  215,  216,  218,  220,  221,  266, 
291,  326,  345,  346,  382,  392,  430,  473,  484,  527,  577,  639,  652, 
653,  663,  705,  756;  Pap.  Gen.  16,  17;  G.G.P.  ii.  61,  62  ;  C.P.R. 
48,  49,  50,  51,  52,  53,  54,  55,  228  ;  G.O.P.  i.  54,  56  ;  Pap.  B.M. 
156,  345-348,  451^  474- 

3.  In  the  struggle  which  followed,  the  decreasing 
importance  of  the  Egyptian 
granaries  became  evident. 
Severus,  the  rival  of  Niger, 
as  soon  as  he  was  master  of 
Rome,  hastened  to  secure, 
not  Egypt,  but  Africa,  in 
order  to  protect  the  corn- 
supply  of  the  capital  ;  show- 
ing that  it  was  no  longer 
possible  for  the  master  of 
Egypt  to  starve  Rome  into 
submission,  as  Vespasian  had 
proposed  to  do.(-o^)  Ulti- 
mately, the  troops  of  Niger  [194  a.d. 
Fig.  57.— Severus :  Latopolis.      were  defeated  by  Severus  at 


70       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVIXCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


Cyzicus  ;  and  the  latter  thus  secured  undisputed  pos- 
session of  the  empire/-^^^ 
196A.D.]     4.    Some  time  afterwards,   he  visited  Egypt,  and 
restored  to  the  Alexandrians  the  privileg^es  of  local  self- 
government  by  a  senate, 
which  had  been  taken  away 
from  them  by  Augustus. 
The    general  tranquillity 
which    had    prevailed  for 
many  years  in  Alexandria 
— only  one  disturbance,  in 
the    reign    of  Antoninus, 
having  been  recorded  since 
the  last  great  fight  between 
the  Greek  and  Jewish  fac- 
tions, eighty  years  before  this  date — probably  induced 
the  emperor  to  confer  this  favour  on  the  city. 


Fig.  :;8. 


— Severus  and  Julia : 
Latopolis. 


CARACALLA. 
21 1  -217. 


GETA. 
21 1--212. 


Buildings. — Latopolis  :  outer  walls  of  temple.  Alexandria. :  canip. 
Inscriptions-. — Hierog-lyphic  :  L.D.  iv.  89,  90.    Greek:  C.I.G.  iii. 

4986,  4987,  4988,  4989,  4990,  4991,  4992,  4993.  4994;  i^I.A. 

69,  103,  104,  105,  108;  App,  iii.  12;  Petrie,  Koptos,  ch.  vi., 

No.  6. 

Ostraka.—C\.^.  iii.  5109^  5109^;  P.S.B.A.  ix.  p.  19^  ;  Lumbroso, 

Documenti  Greci  del  Mus.  Egiz.  di  Torino,  vii.  2. 
Papyri.— ^.QX,  64,  145,  159,  186,  222,  223,  266,  275,  321,  322,  336, 


VISIT  OF  CARACALLA 


71 


356,  362,  529,  534,  614,  617,  618,  637,  655,  711  ;  Pap.  Gen.  1  ; 
C.P.R.  33,  35,  45,  56-62,  239;  G.O.P.  i.  108;  Pap.  B.M.  217, 
322,  349,  350,  352. 
Miscellaneous. — Statue  from  Mendes.    Colossal  head  from  Koptos. 

5.  Caracalla,  his  son,  also  visited  Alexandria  ;  but 


Fig.  59,- — Caracalla  and  Geta  :  Fig.  60. — Geta  : 

Latopolis.  Latopolis. 


with  less  pleasant  results  \ 
had  exercised  their  talent 
scoffing  at  him  for  his 
mimicry  of  heroes  like  Alex- 
ander and  Achilles,  and  for 
his  murder  of  his  brother 
Geta.  On  his  approach  to 
the  city,  the  Alexandrian 
populace  went  out  to  receive 
him  with  honour,  which 
he  appeared  to  reciprocate. 
After  a  few  days,  he  an- 
nounced that  he  wished 
to  enroll  as  soldiers  those 
of  the  youths  of  the  city 
best  fitted  to  bear  arms  ; 
and,  having"  thus  collected 
a  large  body  of  men  upon  a 
plain  outside  the  city  walls, 
he  surrounded  and  charged 
them  with  his  troops.  The 


r  the  inhabitants.  They 
3r  satire  at  his  expense. 


[215  A.D. 


Fig.  61. — Colossal  head  of 
Caracalla :  from  Koptos. 
(Photo,  by  W.  M.  F.  Petrie.) 


72       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


Fig.  63.— Statue,  face  recut  to 
likeness  of  Caracalla  :  in 
Ghizeh  Museum.  (Photo,  by 
J.G.  M.) 


massacre  which  ensued  was 
continued  by  the  Roman 
soldiers  on  their  return  into 
the  city,  where  they  entered 
the  houses  and  slew  the 
inhabitants.  Caracalla  also 
abolished  the  games,  put 
down  the  syssitia,  and 
ordered  Alexandria  to  be 
divided  into  two  parts  by 
a  wall  ;  at  the  same  time 
directing  the  legionaries  who 
had  hitherto  been  stationed 
outside  the  walls  at  Niko- 
polis,  to  take  up  their 
quarters  inside  the  city.^-^'') 
6.  It  was  probably  shortly 
before  the  visit  of  Cara- 
calla to  Egypt  that  the 
procurator  Titianus  was 
assassinated  by  the  orders 
of  Aurelius  Theocritus,  a 
freedman  of  the  emperor's, 
whoheldacommanding  posi- 
tion in  Egyptian  affairs. 
This  was  not  the  first  time 
that  a  freedman  had  been 
the  virtual  ruler  of  Egypt. 
Basileides,  a  freedman  of 
Claudius,  had  exercised  the 
chief  influence  in  Alexandria 
Mp  to  the  time  of  the  ac- 
ession  of  Vespasian  ;  and, 
>till  earlier,  Julius  Severus 
had  been  actually  made  pre- 
fect by  Tiberius. 


CIVIL  WAR  IN  ALEXANDRIA 


73 


MACRINUS. 

217-  218. 
Papyrus. — Pap.  B.M.  351. 

7.  A  more  novel  step  was  taken  by  Macrinus,  who, 
immediately  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  recalled 
Julianas  the  prefect  of  Egypt,  and  sent  with  Basilianus, 
the  new  prefect,  a  senator,  Marius  Secundus,  as  second 
in  command.  The  rule  of  Augustus,  which  forbade 
the  appointment  of  senators  to  administrative  rank  in 
Egypt,  was  thus  for  the  first  time  broken. (-^^^ 

ELAGABALUS. 

218-  222. 

Inscrip/ions. — Greek:  C.I.G.  iil.  4996;  App.  iii.  13;  R.E.G.  1891, 
p.  46. 

Papyri.— B.GX.  296,  413,  452,  458,  518,  633,  667  ;  G.G.P.  i.  49; 
C.P.R.  8,  32  ;  G.O.P.  i.  61  ;  Pap.  B.M.  166 a,  352,  353,  477. 

8.  Basilianus  and  Marius,  however,  were  not  left  for 
long  in  peaceful  enjoyment  of  their  offices.  As  soon  as 
Elagabalus  had  been  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  Syrian 
troops,  the  Roman  garrison  in  Alexandria  declared 
themselves  on  his  side,  thus  following  the  precedents 
set  in  the  cases  of  Vespasian  and  Pescennius  Niger, 
both  of  whom  were  nominated  in  Syria  and  subsequently 
accepted  in  Egypt.  But  the  citizens,  as  the  new  claimant 
to  the  throne  professed  himself  to  be  the  son  of  their 
old  enemy  Caracalla,  were  naturally  for  opposing  him, 
and  supported  Basilianus,  who  had  put  to  death  the 
couriers  who  brought  the  news  from  Syria.  A  general 
battle  in  Alexandria  was  the  result,  in  which  the 
military  got  the  better,  Marius  being  killed  ;  and  Basili- 
anus fled  to  Rome.(-i*^) 

ALEXANDER  SEVERUS. 
222-238, 

Inscriptions. — Demotic:   L.D.  vi,   10.    Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4705, 

4997»  4999.  500 1 »  5002,  5068. 

Papyri.— B.G.XJ.  35,  659,  716;  C.P.R.  7,  21,  36,  63-69,  75,  81-83, 

225,  243;  Louvre,  N.  et  E.,  No.  69;  G.O.P.  i.  35^',  77;  Pap. 

B.M.  176,  180. 


74       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


9.  A  justification  for  the  action  of  Macrinus  in  dis- 
regarding- the  rule  of  Augustus  may  be  found  in  the 
greatly  diminished  importance  of  Egypt,  which  was,  as 
has  already  been  pointed  out,  no  longer  the  sole,  or 


Fig.  64. — \\'acly  Khardassy  :  Greek  tablets. 

even  the  chief,  granary  of  Rome,  and  was  reduced  to 
poverty  alike  in  wealth  and  spirit.   Thus  it  was  no  longer 

to  be  apprehended  that  a 
man  of  influence  would 
find  it  easier  to  gather  the 
materials  for  a  rebellion  in 
Egypt  than  elsewhere.  A 
still  more  striking  example 
of  this  decline  in  import- 
ance is  preserved  in  the 
reign  of  Alexander  Severus, 
who,  when  one  Epagathus  had  led  a  mutiny  of  the 
praetorian  guards  at  Rome,  despatched  him  to  Egypt 
as  prefect,  as  though  this  was  a  place  where  he  would 


Fig.  65. — Ruiaau  lamp  in  form  of 
a  boat.    (Petrie  Collection.) 


DECREASIXG  IMPORTAXCE  OF  EGYPT 


75 


be  removed  from  any  chance  of  making  mischief.  It 
later  transpired  that  the  seeming-  honour  was  merely 
a  step  to  removing  Epagathus  from  the  company  and 
the  memory  of  the  praetorian  guards,  whom  the 
emperor  feared  to  offend,  and  then  quietly  having 
him  executed. (-11) 

MAXIM  IX  US. 
Inscriptions. — Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  5003. 

Papyri.— V>.OX.  735;  G.G.P.  ii.  67;  C.P.R.  6,  84;  Pap.  B.M.  212b. 
GORDIAXUS  I. 

GORDIAXUS  II. 
238. 

BALBIXUS. 

PUPIEXUS. 
238. 

GORDIAXUS  III. 
238-244. 

Ijiscriptions. — Greek  :  C.I.G.  iii.  5004-5008. 

Papyri,— B.G. v.  84,  141  ;  R.E.G.  vii.  p.  299,  Xo.  3  ;  G.O.P.  i.  80. 

PHILIPPUS. 
244-249. 

Itiscripfiotis. — Greek  :  C.I.G.  iii.  5009,  ^010,  5069. 
Papvri.—B.G.V.  7,  8,  253  ;  G.G.P.  ii.  68,  71  ;  C.P.R.  85  ;  R.E.G. 
'vii.  p.  299,  Xo.  5  ;  G.O.P.  i.  8t. 

10.  A  province  which  had  reached  such  a  low  degree 
of  importance  as  that  shown  by  the  foregoing  events, 
counted  for  little  in  the  making  and  unmaking  of  em- 
perors which  followed  the  death  of  Alexander  Severus. 
The  Egyptians  seem  to  have  acquiesced  in  the  decisions 
of  fate  and  the  western  provinces  ;  and  the  officials 
at  Alexandria  also  recognised  without  question  any 
claimant  who  was  set  up.  Such  were  the  two  Gordiani 
in  Africa,  for  whom  coins  were  struck  in  Egypt  simul- 
taneously with  those  of  Maximinus,  whom  they  sought, 


76       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


but  failed,  to  overthrow. (•^i-)  In  one  way  only  did  Egypt 
share  with  the  rest  of  the  East  a  power  in  the  empire 
— by  its  poverty.  The  inability  of  the  government  to 
collect  the  revenue  in  the  Eastern  provinces  compelled 
Philip  to  make  peace  with  the  Goths  on  the  Danube. (2^^) 


DECIUS. 
249-251. 

Building. — Latopolis  :  west  wall  of  temple. 
[The  name  of  Decius  is  the  last  of  those 

which  occur  on  the  walls  of  the  temple 

of  Latopolis.] 
Inscription. — Hieroglyphic  :  L. D.  iv.  90. 
Papyri.— B.G.U.  287  fC.P.R.  20,37;  R-E-G. 

vii.  p.  299,  No.  I. 


250  A.D.] 


A  new  disturbing  element  was  beginning  to  make 
its  presence  felt  in  Egyptian 
politics  ;  the  growing  strength 
of  Christianity  obliged  the 
rulers  of  the  country  to  recog- 
nise it.  There  had,  indeed, 
been  occasional  attempts,  of 
a  more  or  less  local  character, 
made  duringthe  second  century 
with  a  view  of  putting  down 
the  new  religion  ;  but  the  first 
general  attack  upon  it  was  made 
in  the  reign  of  Decius,  when  a 
systematic  test  was  ordained 
of  compelling  every  person  to 
do  sacrifice,  on  pain  of  de- 
nunciation and  death  if  they 
while  those  who  fulfilled  the  test  received  a 
from  a  magistrate,  witnessing  to  the  due 


Fig.  66. — Decius  :  Latopolis. 


refused 
certificate 
performance. 


GALLUS. 


251-254- 
Papyrus. — Pap.  Gen.  9. 


REIGNS  OF  THE  "TYRANTS" 


77 


^MILIANUS. 


252-  254. 

VALERIANUS. 

253-  260. 

Ifiscription. — Greek  :  App.  iii.  14. 

Papyri.— B.G.V.  14,  746;  C.P.R.  176;  Pap.  R.M.  211, 
GALLIENUS. 
260-268. 

Inscription. — Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4839. 

Papyri.— "^.Q^.V.  244,  552-557,  579,  743,  744,  745;  G.G.P.  ii.  69; 
C.P.R.  38,  39. 

[MACRIANUS  I.] 
[MAORI ANUS  II.] 
[QUIETUS.] 
[261-262.] 

[Inscription. — Greek:  Petrie,  Koptos,  c.  vi.,  No.  7. 
Papyrus.— G.G.V.  i.  50.] 

12.  In  the  general  state  of  revolution  which  pervaded 
the  Roman  Empire  during  the  time  of  Gallienus,  Egypt 
shared  to  the  full.  At  first  the  Egyptians  followed,  as 
they  had  so  often  previously  done,  the  lead  of  Syria, 
and  recognised  as 
emperors  Macri- 
anus  with  his  sons 
Macrianus  and 
Quietus.  (-1^)  But 
when  these  had 
fallen,  the  first  two 
in  Illyricum,  the 
third  at  Emesa,  the 
Alexandrian  mob 
ventured  to  experi- 
ment in  the  making 
of  an  emperor  on  its 
own  account,  and 
compelled  Marcus 
Julius  ^milianus, 
the  prefect,  to  ac- 


[262  A.D. 


Fig.  67. 


-Inscription  of  Quietus  :  from  Koptos. 
(Petrie  Collection.) 


78       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


cept  their  nomination.  For  a  few  months  the  Egyptian 
emperor  ruled  with  vigour  ;  he  drove  back  the  Blem- 
myes,  who  were  harassing  the  Thebaid,  and  was  prepar- 
ing an  expedition,  probably  destined  against  Ethiopia, 
when  Theodotus  arrived  to  support  the  cause  of  Galli- 


desert ;  the  wall  which  Caracalla  had  built  across 
the  city  probably  serving  to  mark  the  boundaries  of 
the  two  factions.  Finally,  Theodotus  got  the  victory, 
captured  yEmilianus,  and  sent  him  as  a  prisoner  to 
Rome,  while  Alexandria  was  left  in  ruins,  and  infected 
with  disease.  So  great  was  the  mortality  caused  by 
these  various  troubles,  that  it  is  reported  that  the 
numbers  of  the  inhabitants  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  eighty  were  only  equal  to  those  of  between  forty 
and  seventy  in  former  times  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the 
population  had  been  reduced  to  barely  a  third  of  its 
former  numbers. (-^^^ 


13.  During  the  last  few  years  the  power  of  the  vassal 
state  of  Palmyra  had  been  steadily  growing  under  its 
prince  Odsenathus ;  and  when,  after  his  death,  his 
widow  Zenobia  aspired  to  independence  from  Rome, 
one  of  her  first  movements  was  to  occupy  Egypt. 
Odtenathus,  it  is  true,  had  been  made  by  Gallienus 
commander  of  the  Eastern  provinces,  in  which  Egypt 
would  be  included  ;  but  he  had  never  been  recognised 


Fig.  68. — Coin  of  M.  Julius  yEmilianus. 
(British  Museum.) 


enus  in  Alexandria. 
During  the  contest 
which  followed,  the 
city  was  laid  waste 
by  the  opposing 
parties,  who  estab- 
lished themselves  in 
different  quarters, 
and  made  the  in- 
tervening   space  a 


CLAUDIUS  IL 


268-270. 
Papyrics.—G.G.V.  ii.  70. 


PALMYRENE  IXVASIOX 


79 


there.  An  Egyptian  named 
year  of  Claudius,  invited  the 
country  ;  and,  in  response  to 
his  invitation,  Zenobia  sent 
an  army  of  seventy  thousand 
men,  under  Zabdas.  The 
Romans,  however,  though 
inferior  in  numbers,  made 
a  dogged  resistance  :  they 
were  at  first  defeated  ;  but 
when  the  main  Pahiiyrene 
army  withdrew,  leaving  a 
small  garrison  of  some  five 
thousand  men,  these  were 
expelled  by  Probus,  a  Roman 
general.  Zabdas  and  Tima- 
genes  thereon  returned,  and 
were  defeated  by  Probus  ; 
but  when  he  attempted  to 
cut  off  their  retreat  near 
Babylon,  the  superior  local 
knowledge  of  Timagenes 
secured  the  victory  for  the 
Palmyrenes,  and  Probus  com- 
mitted suicide/-^") 

14.  During  the  whole  of 
the  reign  of  Claudius  the 
authority  of  the  Roman 
government  in  Egypt  was 
practically  confined  to  Alex- 
andria. The  Palmyrenes  had 
allied  themselves  with  the 
Blemmyes,  who  were  of  kin- 
dred Arab  race,  and  from 
their  homes  above  the  First 
Cataract  of  the  Nile  had 
recently  been  threatening  the 
Roman  frontier,  which  had 
remained  undisturbed  since 
the  days  of  Augustus.  They 


Timagenes,  ni  the  first 
Palmyrenes  to  enter  the[268  A.D. 


Fig.  69.— jSIiniature  altar. 
(Petrie  Collection.) 


Fig.  70. — Altar  of  M.  Aurelius 
Belakabos  :  froni  Koptos. 
(Photo,  by  W.  M.  F.  Petrie. ) 


8o       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


possibly  found  support  also  at  Koptos,  where  a  corps 
of  Palmyrene  archers  had  been  stationed  by  the  Roman 
government.  The  two  Arab  tribes  now  ruled  the  whole 
of  Upper  Eg-ypt,  and  finally  possessed  themselves,  in 
part  at  least,  of  Alexandria. (-^^^ 

QUINTILLUS. 
270. 

AURELIAXUS. 
270-275. 

Papyri'.— C.F.R.  9;  Pap.  B.M.  214. 

15.  The  Palmyrene  government,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  its  armies  were  fighting-  against  the  Roman  troops, 
had  not  definitely  renounced  its  allegiance  to  the  Roman 
emperor  ;  and  when  its  partisans  obtained  a  footing  in 
Alexandria,  they  struck  coins  which  bear  the  head  of 
Aurelian  on  the  obverse,  while  that  of  Vaballathos 
the  son  of  Zenobia  appears  on  the  reverse. But 

270  A.D.]  Aurelian  soon  broke  relations  with  Zenobia,  and  went 
to  Egypt  to  recover  that  country.  He  succeeded  in 
driving  the  Palmyrene  forces  and  their  adherents  into 
the  suburb  known  as  the  Brucheion,  and  there  besieged 
them.  They  were  forced  by  hunger  to  capitulate  ;  and 
Aurelian  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the  quarter 
which  they  had  held,  together  with  the  walls  of 
Alexandria.(-20) 

16.  There  was  still  a  considerable  element  of  disturb- 
ance left  in  Egypt  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Palmyrenes 
from  Alexandria.  The  most  dangerous  enemy  of  the 
Romans  was  Firmus,  the  leader  of  the  native  Egyptian 
party,  who  was  acting  in  concert  with  the  Blemmyes 
and  the  remnants  of  the  Palmyrene  army.  He  actually 
held  Upper  Egypt,  and  even  threatened  Alexandria ; 
but  Aurelian  returned  to  Egypt  and  defeated  him.(--^) 

TACITUS. 


275-276. 


rACIFICATION  OF  EGYPT 


8i 


PROBUS. 
276-282. 
Papyrus. — B.G.U.  419. 

17.  The  Blemmyes  from  the  southern  frontier  of 
Egypt  now  dominated  the  whole  of  the  Thcbaid,  and 
necessitated  the  attention  of  the  Roman  gfovernment ; 
and  it  was  only  by  degrees  that  Probus,  who  had  been 
left  in  command  of  Egypt  by  Aurelian,  drove  them 
back  to  their  homes.  He  had  also  to  deal  with  attacks 
on  the  western  frontier  made  by  some  of  the  wandering 
tribes  of  the  Libyan  desert ;  and  it  was  not  until  six  or 
seven  years  had  passed  that  he  finally  recovered  from 
them  Ptolemais  and  Koptos,  the  two  chief  military 
stations  of  Upper  Egypt.     He  had,  in  the  meantime, 


Fig.  71. — Roman  terra-cotta  figures.    (Petrie  Collection.) 


after  the  death  ot  Aurelian  and  the  short  reign  of 
Tacitus,  been  named  as  emperor  by  the  Egyptian 
legions  in  opposition  to  Florianus,  the  brother  of 
Tacitus  ;  and  the  Syrian  army,  reversing  the  order 
hitherto  prevalent,  accepted  the  choice,  which  was 
approved  by  the  remainder  of  the  empire. ^^--^ 
V— 6 


82       DECAY  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM     [193-283  a.d. 


CARUS. 

282-  2S3. 

Papyri— G.O.W  i.  55,  55a,  55  b. 

CARINUS. 

283-  285. 


18.  The  economic  history  of  Egypt  from  the  time  of 
Severus  to  that  of  Diocletian  shows  nothing-  but  a 
decline  from  bad  to  worse.  The  oppression  of  the  taxes 
was  such  that  large  numbers  of  the  cultivators  of  the 
land  were  driven  to  leave  their  homes  and  live  the  life 
of  brigands  ;  and  a  record  shows  that,  in  one  part  of 
the  F'ayum,  one-sixth  of  the  land  formerly  assessed  for 
purposes  of  taxation  had  gone  out  of  cultivation  or  was 
unoccupied. This  may  to  some  extent  have  been 
due  to  the  failure  of  the  government  to  keep  the  canals 
open,  as  Probus  employed  his  troops  during  the  war 
with  the  Blemmyes  in  doing  this  work,  which  ought 
to  have  been  regularly  performed  by  specially  appointed 
officials  yearly  but  the  difficulty  of  making  a  living 
out  of  agriculture  w^as  probably  the  chief  reason.  And 
as  no  remission  of  the  total  amount  of  taxation  required 
from  each  district  appears  to  have  been  made,  the  burden 
grew  the  more  crushing  upon  those  who  struggled  on 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  those  who  threw  up  their 
farms  ;  most  crushing  of  all  on  the  unfortunate  men 
who  w'ere  forced  to  undertake  the  duty  of  presiding 
over  the  collection  of  the  taxes  in  their  villages,  and 
whose  property  was  seized  by  the  government  until  the 
full  amount  of  the  taxes  had  been  paid  into  the  official 
bank.^--^)  The  difficulty  found  by  Philip  in  raising  the 
imperial  revenues  from  the  East  has  already  been 
mentioned  ;  and  the  rapid  deterioration  in  the  size  of 
the  coinage — it  could' not  deteriorate  much  in  fineness — 
shows,  further,  the  embarrassments  of  the  government. 
The  latter  fact  explains  away  to  some  extent  the  rise 
in  prices — as,  for  example,  that  of  corn,  from  eight 


DEPRESSION  OF  AGRICULTURE 


83 


drachmae  to  sixteen  or  nineteen  drachmae  an  artaba — in 
the  course  of  the  century  ;  and  the  farmers  were  the 
less  able  to  benefit  by  this  rise,  as  the  greater  part  of 
their  produce  was  paid  directly  in  kind  to  the  State 
by  measure  and  not  by  value  ;  while  the  rise  in  prices 
had  brought  with  it  a  rise  in  the  wages  which  had  to 
be  paid  to  the  labourers,  who  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century  were  receiving  from  one  and  two-thirds  to 
three  drachmae  a  day  ;  and,  forty  years  later,  obtained 
from  four  to  six  drachmae/--")  The  position  of  the 
Egyptian  farmers,  especially  those  who  held  large 
amounts  of  land,  must  have  been  desperate  before 
Diocletian  took  in  hand  the  reform  of  the  empire. 


CHAPTER  V 


The  Struggle  between  the  State  and  the  Church, 

284-379  A.D. 
DIOCLETIANUS. 

284-305- 

Building. — Phllaj  :  arch. 

[The  arch  at  Philae  was  probably  part  of  a  scheme  of  fortification 

for  the  island,  executed  under  Diocletian.] 
Inscriptions.- — Greek:  C.I.G.  iii,  4681,  4892.    Latin:  C.I.L.  iii. 

22  ;  M.A.,  E. 

Papyri.— 13,  94,  286,  373,  624;  G.G.P.  ii.  72,  74,  75,  76, 
78,  no;  C.P.R.  40,  41  ;  R.E.G.  vii.  p.  299,  No.  2;  G.O.P.  i. 
43.  58,  59.  71- 

I.  The  defeat  of  the  Blemmyes  by  Probus  had  only 
checked  their  inroads  for  the  moment.  From  year  to 
year  they  renewed  their  attacks  on  Upper  Eg^ypt, 
finding"  no  resistance,  and  probably  some  help,  among- 
the  inhabitants,  who  could  scarcely  suffer  more  from 
their  plundering  than  they  did  from  that  of  the 
Roman  government.  The  garrison  at  Syene  was  quite 
incapable  of  keeping"  them  in  check  ;  and  Diocletian 
devised  a  new  plan  for  the  protection  of  the  Thebaid. 
The  military  frontier  of  the  Dodekaschoinoi  had  long 
been  Roman  only  in  name  ;  and  the  diminished  Roman 
army  in  Egypt  was  unable  to  spare  the  troops  required 
for  its  occupation,  while  little  revenue  was  to  be 
obtained  from  the  narrow  strips  of  land  here  available 
for  cultivation  ;  indeed,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the 
Dodekaschoinoi  was  ever  regarded  as  a  source  of 
revenue  by  the  Romans  ;  it  was  certainly  never  organ- 

84 


WITHDRAWAL  OF  ROMAN  FRONTIER  85 


ised  in  the  same  manner  as  the  rest  of  the  country  for 
financial  purposes.    So  Diocletian  withdrew  the  Roman 


Fig.  72. — Philse  :  Arch  of  Diocletian. 


Fig.  73. — Roman  lamps  and  handles.    (Petrie  Collection.) 


86 


THE  STATE  AND  THE  CHURCH        [284-379  a.d. 


frontier  from  Hierasykaminos  to  Syene,  and  invited  the 
Nobatae,  one  of  the  wandering  tribes  of  the  western 
desert,  to  settle  in  the  Nile  valley,  and  to  protect 
Upper  Egypt  against  the  Blemmyes,  promising  them  an 
annual  subsidy  in  return  for  this  service.  The  Blemmyes 
were  at  the  same  time  subsidised  by  the  Roman  govern- 
ment, in  order  to  buy  off  their  ravages  ;  and  the  fortifi- 
cations of  the  new  frontier  were  strengthened/"--^) 

2.  Upper  Egypt  had  scarcely  been  reorganised,  when 
295  A.D.]  disturbances  broke  out  in  Alexandria.    Lucius  Domitius 
Domitianus,  a  Roman  officer  known  to  the  Egyptians 
by  the  nickname  of  Achilleus,  revolted,  and  was  ac- 

cepted  by  the  Egyptians 
as    emperor.  Diocletian 
I    was  obliged  to  come  in 
'HHHjHIW    person  to  Egypt  in  order 
^^^^^^T      to  put  down  the  revolt. 

He    besieged  Alexandria 
11    74. -Coin  of  Domitius  gjo-ht    months,  and 

Domitianus.    (British  Museum. )       o      n      ,      1  , 

297  A.V.]  finally  took  it  by  storm; 

and  a  great  part  of  the  city  was  destroyed  in  the  sack 
which  followed. 

2g6a.d.]  3.  The  revolt  of  Achilleus  was  in  progress  when 
Diocletian  introduced  his  monetary  and  economical 
reforms  ;  and  its  nature,  as  an  attempt  by  a  Roman 
commander  to  seize  imperial  power,  rather  than  an 
uprising  of  the  people  against  Roman  rule,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  rebel  emperor  found  it  advisable  to 
adopt  the  changes  which  had  been  ordered  by  his 
adversary,  and  struck  coins  of  the  new  monetary 
system. The  reduction  of  Alexandria  was  followed 
by  the  complete  reorganisation  of  the  whole  province 
of  Egypt. 

4.  The  prosperity  of  Alexandria  had  been  seriously 
diminished,  especially  by  the  sieges  in  the  revolts  of 
302  A.D.]  ^milianus  and  Achilleus  ;  and  Diocletian  decreed  that 
a  portion  of  the  corn  tribute,  which  had  hitherto  been 
sent  by  Egypt  to  Rome,  should  be  diverted  to  the  relief 
of  the  citizens  of.  Alexandria. ^--^i)  In  gratitude  for  this 
act  of  kindness  from  an  emperor  who  had  certainly 


PERSECUTION  OF  CHRISTIANS 


87 


no  reason  to  love  them,  the  Alexandrians  set  up  the 
column,  still  standing',  known  as  Pompey's  pillar. (-^-) 

5.  The  latter  part  of  the  reign 
of  Diocletian  was  a  time  of  con- 
siderable disturbance  in  Eg-ypt, 
owing-  to  the  persecution  of  the 
Christians,  w^ho  now  numbered 
amongst  them  a  large  proportion 
of  the  population,  especially  in 
Lower  Egypt.  The  new  system 
of  government  desired  to  secure, 
amongst  other  things,  a  more 
distinctly  religious  position  for  the 
emperor,  in  the  hope  that  one  to 
whom  sacrifices  were  offered,  and 
who  was  almost  a  god  upon  earth, 
might  be  more  secure  against 
assassination  than  the  military  em- 
perors of  the  last  century  had 
been. ^-2^)  This  desire  was  met  by 
the  resistance  of  the  Christians  ; 
and  the  struggle  provoked  thereby 
was  nowhere  more  keen  than  in 
Egypt,  where  the  traditions  of  the 
country  might  have  led  the  govern- 
ment to  expect  that  all  and  more  ^^^9-.  75-— Column  of 
1     J  u  u         u  Diocletian  at  Alex- 

than  they  asked  would  have  been  andria. 

granted  at  once,  and  that  Diocle- 
tian would  have  been  deified  as  readily  as  Caligula  had 
been.  But  Egyptian  fanaticism  did  not  die  out  in 
those  converted  to  Christianity  ;  and  the  endeavours 
of  the  Roman  officials  to  secure  the  worship  of  the 
emperor  were  met  by  an  obstinacy  which  frequently 
degenerated  into  foolishness  and  wanton  provocation. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  decide  with  any  approach  to 
accuracy  the  number  of  those  who  were  executed  on 
religious  grounds  in  Egypt  ;  but  they  were  certainly 
many,  and  of  all  classes  of  society. (-•^^) 


88 


THE  STATE  AND  THE  CHURCH       [284-379  a.d. 


GALERIUS  MAXIMINUS. 

AND 

305-311-  305-313- 

Inscription. — Latin:  M.A.  78. 

Papyri.— "Q.^^.^J.  408,  606;  G.O.P.  i.  102. 


6.  The  persecution  was  carried 
on  steadily  by  Galerius  and  Maxi- 
minus,  the  latter  of  whom  earned 
the  special  hatred  of  the  Chris- 
tians.(-^5)  After  his  defeat  by  his 
rival  Licinius,  he  designed  to  retreat 
on  Egypt,  and  raise  a  fresh  army 
there  ;  though  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  that  country  alone  could 
have  supplied  any  force  capable 
of  withstanding  the  troops  of  his 
rival. ('2'^)  To  the  support  of  Licinius, 
when  in  his  turn  he  had  to  defend 
his  possession  of  the  East,  Egypt 
only    contributed    eighty  triremes 


^   '       ^        1  out  of  a  total  of  three  hundred 

Fig.  76. — Roman  lamp  ,^,^„^ 

in  form  of  a  gateway.  tlity.'^ 
(Petrie  Collection.) 


CONSTANTINUS  LICINIUS. 

AND 

Inscriptions. — Greek:  App.  ill.  8;  Rec.  Trav.  xvi,  p.  44. 
Papyri. — B.G.U.  349,  409,  411;    Pap.   Gen.   13;   C.P.R.  233; 
G.O.P.  i.  42,  53,  60,  84,  103. 

Inscriptions. — Greek:  C.I.G.  iii.  4770.    Latin:  C.I.L.  iii.  17,  18; 

M.A.  13  ;  Bull,  de  la  Soc.  des  Antiq.  de  France,  1888,  p.  273. 
Papyri. — Pap.  Gen.  10;  C.P.R.  10,  19;  G.O.P.  i.  52,  83,  83a,  92. 

7.  As  soon  as  Constantine  obtained  sole  power, 
Christianity  became  the  recognised  religion  of  the 
323  A.D.]  State.  But  the  Egyptian  Christians  had  no  sooner 
been  relieved  from  persecution  by  the  government, 
than  they  found  fresh  occasion  for  trouble  in  sectarian 
quarrels.    The  dispute  which  arose  between  Athanasius 


THE  ARIAN  CONTROVERSY 


89 


and  Arius  on  the  relationship  of  the  Father  and  the 

Son,  besides  its  theological  importance,  had  political 

consequences  which  profoundly  affected  the  history  of 

Egfypt/'-^^^)    The  emperor  was  called  upon  to  decide 

the  point  at  issue  in  its  earliest  stage  ;  Alexander,  the 

bishop  of  Alexandria,  appealed  to  him,  as  also  did 

Arius  ;  and  as  his  letter,  declining  to  pronounce  an 

opinion,  and  endeavouring  to  pacify  the  opponents, 

produced  no  effect,  he  summoned  a  council  of  bishops  [325 

at  Nicasa  to  formulate  a  creed. ^-^^^    Their  decision  led 

to  the  excommunication  and  banishment  of  Arius  ;  but 

when  he  offered  a  written  explanation,  the  emperor 

revoked  the  order  of  banishment,  and  directed  Athan- 

asius,  who  was  now  bishop  of  Alexandria,  to  receive 

Arius  into  the  Church  again  ;  and,  upon  the  refusal 

of  Athanasius  to  obey  this  order,  he  was  summoned 

before  a  fresh  council  of  bishops  at  Tyre,  deposed,  and  [335 
banished.(2^o) 

8.  Thus  Constantine  had  been  placed  in  a  peculiar 
position  with  relation  to  the  Christian  Churches  of 
Egypt.  He  was  looked  upon,  to  a  certain  extent,  as 
arbiter  of  theological  quarrels,  with  the  civil  power  at 
his  hand  to  enforce  his  decisions  ;  but  these  decisions 
were  only  accepted  by  the  parties  in  whose  favour  they 
were  given,  and  consequently  the  civil  power  became 
an  instrument  of  constant  use  for  the  settlement  of 
ecclesiastical  matters.  The  natural  consequence  of 
this  confusion  of  the  functions  of  Church  and  State 
was,  that  the  bishops  began  to  arrogate  to  themselves 
the  rights  of  civil  officials  ;  and  the  charge  of  attempt- 
ing to  levy  a  tax,  in  the  shape  of  a  linen  garment,  for 
the  support  of  the  Church,  was  laid  against  Athanasius, 
who  would  thereby  be  infringing  what  had  always  been 
regarded  in  Egypt  as  the  sole  prerogative  of  the 
emperor.  It  is  true  that  taxes  had  previously  been 
assigned  by  the  rulers  of  Egypt,  alike  native,  Greek, 
and  Roman,  for  the  expenses  of  the  worship  of  the 
national  gods  ;  and  Athanasius  may  have  held  that  he 
was  entitled  to  claim  assistance  for  his  religion  in  a 
similar  manner  ;  but  his  unauthorised  action  was  taken 


90 


THE  STATE  AND  THE  CHURCH       [284-379  a.d. 


to  be  one  of  the  signs  of  a  design  to  overthrow  the 
g'overnment  of  Constantine. 

9.  Relations  were  constantly  strained  between  this 
emperor  and  the  people  of  Alexandria.  They  had 
supported  his  rivals  Maximinus  and  Licinius  ;  and 
this  fact,  taken  together  with  the  notorious  unquiet- 
ness  of  the  Alexandrians,  probably  contributed  to  the 
decision  of  Constantine,  to  set  aside  the  city  which 
had  been  the  chief  one  of  the  Greek  East  in  favour  of 
Byzantium,  when  he  wished  to  found  a  new  capital 
for  the  empire.  This  slight  upon  Alexandria  did  not 
tend  to  improve  the  feeling  of  the  inhabitants  towards 
the  emperor  ;  and  one  Philumenus  attempted  to  raise 
a  rebellion  in  Egypt,  with  the  assistance,  as  it  was 
said,  of  Athanasius  ;  but  his  plans  were  discovered 
and  crushed  before  any  serious  rising  could  occur. 

CONSTANTIUS  H. 
337-361. 

Papyri. — B.G.U.  21,  316,  405,  456;  Pap.  Gen.  11;  C.P.R.  247; 
G.O.P.  i.  66,  67,  67a,  85,  86,  87,  189;  Pap.  B.M.  231-237, 
239-248,  251,  403-418. 

10.  The  confusion  of  civil  and  religious  functions  led 
to  yet  more  serious  consequences,  when  the  death  of  Con- 
stantine placed  Egypt  in  the  hands  of  his  weaker  son 
Constantius.  Athanasius  now  returned  to  Alexandria  ; 
and  at  first  the  suppoFF  of  the  two  other  partners  in 
the  empire,  Constantine  II.  and  Constans,  protected 
him  against  any  interference  by  Constantius,  who 
alone  of  the  three  belonged  to  the  opposing  Arian 
creed. (-^1)    But  as  soon  as  the  death  of  Constantine  II. 

]  left  a  freer  hand  to  Constantius,  he  deposed  Athanasius, 
and  had  Gregory  elected  as  patriarch  of  Alexandria 
by  a  council  of  bishops  held  at  Antioch.  It  was  not, 
however,  until  an  armed  escort  was  sent  with  him 
that  Gregory  ventured  to  enter  Alexandria  ;  and  the 
metropolitan  church  was  held  against  him  by  the  sup- 
porters of  xAthanasius,  till  Syrianus,  the  general  in 
command  of  the  escort,  threatened  to  storm  it.(-^-) 


BANISHMENTS  OF  ATHANASIUS 


91 


Athanasius  thereupon  withdrew,  and  sought  refuge  at 
Rome,  where  he  secured  the  support  of  Constans  and 
of  JuHus  the  bishop  of  Rome  ;  and  their  joint  threats 
and  arguments,  after  a  conference  at  Constantinople 
between  Constantius  and  Athanasius,  secured  the  con- 
clusion of  an  agreement,  whereby  the  emperor  and  the 
bishop  promised  each  to  restore  his  theological  op- 
ponents to  the  places  from  which  they  had  been  ejected. 
Athanasius  accordingly  once  more  resumed  his  office 
in  Alexandria,  where  his  supporters  had  kept  up  a 
continual  disturbance  in  his  absence  ;  they  had  even 
succeeded  in  expelling  the  Arians  from  many  monas- 
teries, and  in  burning  the  metropolitan  church,  of 
w^hich  they  had  been  dispossessed. (-^^^ 

11.  That  the  fear  of  civil  war  with  Constans  was 
the  chief  reason  which  had  prompted  Constantius  to 
make  peace,  was  shown  by  the  fact  that,  immediately 
after  the  death  of  his  brother,  he  directed  Athanasius 
to  leave  Egypt.  This  direction  was  disregarded,  and 
it  was  over  a  year  before  Constantius  ventured  to 
take  further  steps.  At  length  Syrianus  the  general 
threatened  Athanasius  with  expulsion  by  force  of  arms, 
and  carried  his  threats  into  effect  by  attacking  him  in 
church.  The  bishop,  however,  escaping  from  the 
general  slaughter,  took  refuge  with  his  friends  ;  and  they 
successfully  concealed  him  from  the  emperor's  emis- 
saries, who  were  ordered  to  produce  him  dead  or  alive. 
Meanwhile  the  Arian  party  chose  for  their  patriarch 
George  of  Cappadocia,  who  at  once  began  a  course 
of  vigorous  measures  against  his  opponents,  relying 
upon  the  assistance  of  the  government  to  crush  all 
those  who  disagreed  w^ith  him.^^^*) 

JULIAN  US. 

361-363- 
Papyrus. — G.O.P.  i.  93. 

12.  The  accession  of  Julian  put  a  new-  aspect  on  the 
religious  conflicts  of  Alexandria.  During  the  disputes 
between  the  Athanasians  and  Arians  of  the  last  two 


92 


THE  STATE  AND  THE  CHURCH 


[284-379  A.D. 


reig^ns,  both  parties  had  had,  at  any  rate,  one  common 
ground,  in  the  destruction  or  conversion  to  Christian 
uses  of  all  temples  and  other  monuments  of  polytheism, 
and  they  could  exercise  themselves  in  this  work  w^ith- 
out  any  fear  of  drawing-  down  upon  their  heads  the 
displeasure  of  the  government.  But  now  the  followers 
of  the  older  religions  had  the  emperor  on  their  side, 
and  they  proceeded  to  take  their  revenge.  They  pre- 
ferred formal  complaints  against  Artemius,  the  military 
commander  in  Egypt,  and  George,  the  bishop  ;  and, 
though  Julian  refused  to  see  a  deputation  which  came 
to  Constantinople  to  bear  these  complaints,  he  sum- 
moned Artemius  before  him,  and  condemned  him  to 
death,  seemingly  for  misuse  of  his  authority.  As  soon 
as  the  news  of  his  execution  reached  Alexandria,  the 
mob  rose  and  attacked  George,  against  whom  they  had 
been  cherishing  a  grudge,  as  well  for  a  proposal  made 
by  him  to  the  late  emperor  that  a  special  house  tax 
should  be  laid  on  Alexandria,  as  for  destroying  their 
temples  ;  they  murdered  him  in  the  street,  and  with 
him  Dracontius  the  imperial  treasurer,  and  Diodorus, 
a  count. 

13.  These  acts  of  violence  were  tacitly  approved  by 
the  government,  though  the  emperor  wrote  to  say  that 
if  there  should  be  similar  outrages,  again  perpetrated, 
he  would  punish  the  offenders.  But  it  is  probable  that 
they  were  as  much  the  work  of  the  Athanasian  faction 
as  of  the  pagans,  or  at  any  rate  of  the  mob,  who  held  no 
particular  opinions,  and  were  ready  to  support  the 
party  who  were  most  violent  at  the  moment.  At  any 
rate,  Athanasius  forthwith  reappeared  in  triumph  ;  and 
though  Julian  first  published  an  edict  expelling  him 
from  Alexandria,  as  one  who  had  been  banished  and 
had  returned  without  permission,  and  subsequently 
wTote  threatening  to  fine  the  prefect  if  Athanasius  were 
found  in  Egypt,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  left  the 
capital,  but  to  have  enjoyed  sufficient  security  in  the 
homes  of  his  followers. 


ENLISTMENT  OF  MONKS  IN  ARMY 


93 


JOVIANUS. 

363-  364. 

14.  The  Athanasian  party  at  length  had  an  emperor 
of  their  own  sect  in  Jovian  ;  and  their  leader  was  able 
to  come  out  of  concealment,  and  to  resume  once  more 
the  functions  of  patriarch  of  Alexandria. 

VALENS. 

364-  378. 

Buildimrs. — Athribis  :  tetrapylon.  Alexandria  :  gates  of  Brucheion. 

[The  building-  at  Athribis  is  only  known  from  the  inscription 
preserved  in  the  Ghizeh  Museum.  The  erection  of  the  gates 
of  the  suburb  of  Brucheion  at  Alexandria  is  mentioned  by  John 
of  Nikiou  (c.  82).] 

Inscription. — Greek  :  App.  iii.  15. 

Papyrus.— (^.G.V.  i.  54. 

15.  This  state  of  peace  between  the  Egyptians  and 
the  government,  however,  was  of  short  duration.  The 
partition  of  the  empire  between  Valentinian  and  Valens 
gave  Egypt  into  the  charge  of  the  latter,  and  as  he 
was  an  Arian,  he  came  at  once  into  conflict  with  the 
majority  of  the  Egyptian  Christians.  The  popularity  of 
Athanasius,  indeed,  enabled  him  to  procure  the  revoca- 
tion of  an  edict  of  banishment  which  the  prefect  had 
issued  against  him  on  the  ground  that  the  original 
order  of  Constantius  banishing  him  had  never  been 
revoked,  and  he  held  his  bishopric  thenceforth  in  peace 

till  his  death.  But  his  successor  Peter  was  imprisoned  [373  a.d. 
by  direction  of  the  emperor,  and  the  Arian  patriarch 
Lucius,  who  had  been  originally  elected  by  his  party  in 
the  time  of  Julian,  was  supported  by  the  imperial  troops 
in  what  is  described  by  the  orthodox  historians  as  a 
course  of  violent  persecution. (-"^^^  His  worst  offence, 
however,  in  their  eyes  seems  to  have  been  that  he 
assisted  in  the  enforcement  of  a  new  law,  which 
abolished  the  privilege  which  the  monks  claimed  of 
exemption  from  military  service. (-^^^  If  any  troops  were 
to  be  recruited  in  Egypt,  where  whole  towns  such  as 
Oxyrhynchos,  or  even  whole  districts  like  the  Fayum, 


94 


THE  STATE  AND  THE  CHURCH        [284-379  a.d. 


were  under  monastic  vows,  it  was  out  of  the  question 
to  recognise  such  a  claim  to  exemption  ;  but  the  monks 
stoutly  resisted  the  attempt  to  force  them  into  the 
army,  and  many  of  them  preferred  to  risk  death  fight- 
ing-  ai^ainst,  rather  than  with,  the  imperial  troops. 
S77A.D.]  16.  The  need  of  increased  armaments  was  brought 
home  to  the  government  by  an  incursion  of  the  Saracens, 
who  advanced  by  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea  across  the 
eastern  frontier  under  the  command  of  their  queen 
Mavia,  although  they  were  nominally  vassals  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  The  imperial  forces  were  apparently 
unequal  to  the  task  of  meeting  them,  and  they  had  to 
be  bought  off  by  a  treaty,  of  which  the  only  recorded 
but  probably  least  substantial  conditions  were  the 
marriage  of  a  daughter  of  Mavia  to  the  Roman  general 
Victor,  and  the  provision  of  an  Egyptian  bishop  for  the 
Saracens.  (2^^) 


17.  The  reforms  of  Diocletian  apparently  produced 
a  temporary  improvement  in  the  economic  condition  of 
Egypt,  or  at  any  rate  effected  a  check  in  the  downward 
course  of  its  finances.  There  is  negative  evidence  for 
this  in  the  absence  of  the  complaints  which  had  been 
so  frequent  during  the  previous  century  with  regard  to 
the  burden  of  taxation ;  although  this  may  be  due  to 
the  comparative  rarity  of  documents  belonging  to  this 
period.  There  was  certainly  a  revival  of  trade  with 
the  East,  when,  in  the  reign  of  Constantine,  Frumentius 
negotiated  treaties  of  commerce  with  the  Axumitse  of 
Abyssinia ;  and  Theophilus  did  likewise  a  few  years 
later  with  the  Homeritce  of  Arabia. ^^^^^  These  two 
nations  now  controlled  the  yEthiopIan  and  Indian  trade 
as  they  had  done  up  to  the  time  of  Augustus  ;  the 
Roman  merchants  having  allowed  the  monopoly  which 
the  government  then  secured  for  them  to  slip  out  of 
their  hands.  Before  long,  however,  tokens  of  an 
increase  in  the  poverty  of  the  empire  begin  to  be  again 
noticeable  in  the  edicts  of  Constantius  and  Valens. 
The  former  forbade  the  custom  of  patronage,  by  which 


INCREASING  POVERTY  OF  EGYPT 


95 


communities  in  Egypt  put  themselves  under  the  pro- 
tection of  some  wealthy  or  influential  individual,  prefer- 
ably an  official,  who  could  assist  them  in  any  difiiculties 
with  the  government  ;  ^-^^^  while  Valens  issued  special 
orders  that  the  curiales,  who  were  responsible  for  the 
payment  of  taxes,  should  be  prevented  from  moving- 
from  the  towns  into  the  country,  and  that  they  should, 
if  they  fled  to  the  desert  with  the  object  of  becoming 
monks,  be  seized  and  brought  back.^-^^^  Perhaps  the 
most  striking  evidence,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
law  of  Valens,  which  decreed  that  tribute  should  not 
be  paid  in  money  ;  ^-^^^  and,  agreeably  with  this,  it  is 
noticeable  that  comparatively  few  coins  of  the  period 
betw^een  Constantius  and  Justinian  are  found  in  Egypt, 
while  the  evidence  of  the  papyri  shows  that  small 
accounts  were  commonly  paid  in  kind. 


CHAPTER  VI 


Establishment  of  the  Supremacy  of  the 
Christian  Church,  379-527  a.d. 

THEODOSIUS  I. 
378-395- 

Inscriptions. — Greek:  App.  iii.  16.     Latin:  C.I.L.  iii.  19. 
Papyri. — Pap.  Gen.  12  ;  Pap.  Leyden  Z. 

1.  The  troops  which  had  been  raised  by  the  violent 
methods  adopted  by  the  officers  of  Valens  were  scarcely 
likely  to  be  ready  to  serve  the  government  which  had 
pressed  them,  if  any  chance  of  escape  were  offered. 
Consequently,  in  the  reign  of  Theodosius,  the  Egyptian 
legions  w^ere  partly  drafted  into  Macedonia,  where 
there  would  be  less  facility  for  desertion  ;  and  the 
garrison  of  Egypt  was  completed  by  the  transfer  to 
it  of  a  number  of  Goths  who  had  been  recruited  for 
the  imperial  army.(-^^)  This  was  the  first  recorded 
departure  from  the  rule  which  had  been  observed  by 
previous  emperors,  that  the  Egyptian  levies  should  be 
reserved  for  service  in  their  own  country. ^-^^^ 

2.  Immediately  on  his  accession,  Theodosius  decreed 
that  the  whole  of  the  Roman  Empire  should  become 
Christian  ;  C-^'')  and  this  decree  was  vigorously  enforced 
in  Alexandria  and  Lower  Egypt,  though  in  the  upper 
country  the  authority  of  the  government  was  scarcely 
strong  enough  to  secure  its  observance,  even  if  the 
officials  had  cared  to  do  this.  For  the  most  part,  how- 
ever, they  were  either  too  prudent  administrators  or 
too    lukewarm    Christians — if   indeed  they  were  not 

9G 


FALL  OF  PAGAXISM  IX  ALEXAXDRLA. 


97 


actually  pagans,  as  the  more  fanatical  bishops  and 
monks  frequently  asserted — to  try  to  force  religion 
upon  an  unwilling  people  :  the  more  so  as  the  manners 
and  habits  of  the  leaders  of  the  Christians  were  not  such 
as  to  excite  admiration  in  men  possessed  of  any  culture. 

3.  In  Alexandria  itself,  the  praetorian  prefect  Cynegius,  [385  a.d. 
with  the  imperial  troops,  assisted  the  patriarch  in  the 
work  of  conversion.   The  temple  of  Sarapis  was  the  chief 
point  round  which  the  struggle  raged.    The  followers 

of  the  older  religion  gathered  to  defend  it,  till  the 
streets  became  the  scene  of  furious  battles  ;  at  length 
they  were  driven  into  the  temple,  which  they  fortified, 
and  were  only  expelled  by  the  military  after  much 
bloodshed.  This  and  most  of  the  other  temiples 
captured  by  the  Christians  were  turned  into  churches, 
and  the  leaders  of  the  philosophical  schools  were  forced 
to  withdraw  from  Alexandria. 

ARCADIUS. 
395-408. 

Papyri.— G.G.^.  ii.  80,  81,  81  a,  82. 

4.  From  this  time  the  history  of  Egypt  was  chiefly 
determined  by  the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria,  and  during 
the  next  fifty  years,  in  particular,  little  is  recorded 
except  with  regard  to  the  quarrels  of  the  bishops  and 
their  followers,  which  gave  the  authorities  almost  as 
much  occupation  as  did  the  forced  conversion  of  the 
pagans.  The  position  of  authority  in  the  government, 
arrogated  to  himself  by  the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  as 
well  as  the  spirit  in  which  theological  controversy  was 
carried  on,  is  well  illustrated  by  the  history  of  the 
dispute  which  arose  with  regard  to  the  anthropo- 
morphist  conception  of  God  held  by  the  greater  part  of 
the  Egyptian  Church.  Theophilus,  the  patriarch,  as 
though  those  who  did  not  agree  with  him  were  rebels 
against  his  authority,  and  therefore  against  that  of  the 
emperor,  took  a  body  of  soldiers  and  destroyed  a 
number  of  the  monasteries  of  Nitriotis  which  were 
inhabited  by  his  theological  opponents. In  the  civil 

V— 7 


98       SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH     [379-527  a.d. 


power  thus  arrogfated  by  the  patriarchs  there  may  be 
found  an  anticipation  of  the  Papacy  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


Fig.  77. — The  Red  Monastery  :  Interior  looking  west. 
(Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 

THEODOSIUS  II. 
408-450. 
Papyrus. — B.G.U.  609. 

5.  If  the  patriarch  interfered  with  the  authority  of 
the  imperial  government  by  using  the  soldiers  for  his 
own  purposes,  the  imperial  officials  also  took  their  part 
in  religious  questions.  Thus  when  Theophilus  died, 
and  a  quarrel  arose  over  the  election  of  his  successor, 
Abundantius,  the  general  in  charge  of  the  Roman 
troops  in  Egypt,  joined  in  the  fray,  though  his  support 
did  not  bring  victory  to  the  party  which  he  joined. 
415  a.d]  6.  The  new  patriarch,  Cyril,  fell  foul  of  the  Jews, 
who  had,  during  the  three  centuries  which  had  elapsed 
since  their  virtual  extermination  under  Trajan,  grown 
numerous  and  influential  once  more   in  Alexandria. 


INVASIONS  BY  THE  BLEMMYES 


99 


The  origin  of  the  quarrel  is  obscure  :  probably  it  was 
nothing-  more  than  the  hatred  of  the  Jews  and  Christians 
for  one  another,  coupled  with  a  desire  on  the  part  of 
the  mob  to  plunder  the  Jews,  who  were  far  the  richest 
part  of  the  community.  In  any  case,  plunder  of  the  Jews 
was  what  actually  resulted  ;  their  quarter  of  the  city  was 
sacked,  and  they  were  all  driven  from  their  homes. (^^i) 

7.  This  expulsion  and  robbery  of  the  chief  merchants 
of  Alexandria,  the  people  on  whom  the  prosperity  of 
the  city  depended,  by  a  mob  of  monks  and  vagabonds, 
was  an  act  which  the  government  could  not  well  over- 
look. So  Orestes,  the  prefect,  tried  to  interfere  ;  but  his 
troops  were  insufficient  to  quell  the  disturbance,  and 
he  only  drew  the  hatred  of  the  monks  upon  himself. 
He  was  attacked  in  the  street,  and  wounded  by  a  stone  ; 
and  the  victory  remained  with  Cyril. 

8.  It  was  probably  the  friendship  of  Orestes,  and  the 
consequent  enmity  of  Cyril,  which  led  to  the  murder  of 
the  philosopher  Hypatia.  The  monks,  elated  at  their 
success,  sought  to  sweep  out  all  the  pagans,  amongst 
whom  they  counted  the  prefect,  from  Alexandria  ;  and 
they  attacked  Hypatia,  and  murdered  her  in  the  Church 
of  the  Caesareum.^"^^^) 

9.  Since  the  treaty  of  Diocletian  had  interposed  the 
Nobatae  as  a  buffer  State  between  the  Roman  frontier 
at  Syene  and  the  land  of  the  Blemmyes,  there  had 
been  comparatively  little  trouble  experienced  in  Upper 
Egypt  from  the  wandering  tribes  of  the  desert.  The 
kings  of  the  Nobatas  had  fulfilled  the  task  to  which 
they  had  agreed,  of  making  war  on  the  Blemmyes,  and 
had  established  their  authority  over  the  whole  of  the 
old  Roman  military  frontier.  But,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  reign  of  Theodosius  H.,  the  Blemmyes  once  more 
appeared  in  Egyptian  territory,  and  ravaged  the  Great 
Oasis,  defeating  the  Roman  garrison,  and  carrying  away 
the  inhabitants  as  captives  ;  though  they  subsequently 
restored  the  latter  to  the  governor  of  the  Thebaid, 
seemingly  in  order  to  be  free  from  the  encumbrance 
of  guarding  prisoners,  when  their  line  of  retreat  was 
threatened  by  the  neighbouring  tribe  of  the  Mazices-^-^"^) 


loo     SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH     [379-527  a.d. 


MARCIANUS. 
450-457- 

10.  This  renewal  of  inroads  by  the  Blemmyes  was  a 
sigfn  that  the  Nobat^e  had  failed  to  keep  the  terms  of 
the  agfreement  on  which  they  had  been  settled  in  the 

453A.D.]  Nile  Valley  ;  and  the  general  Maximinus  undertook  an 
expedition  to  punish  both  of  the  tribes.  He  inflicted  a 
severe  defeat  upon  them,  and  compelled  them  to  make 
a  peace  for  one  hundred  years,  to  release  all  Roman 
captives,  to  pay  compensation  for  damage  done,  and 
to  surrender  hostages  ;  the  last  stipulation  being  one 
to  which  neither  the  Blemmyes  nor  the  Nobatag  had 
ever  before  submitted.  On  their  side,  they  obtained 
leave  to  visit  the  temple  of  Isis  at  Philae,  and  at  stated 
times  to  borrow  her  statue,  and  take  it  into  their  own 
country  in  order  to  consult  it  ;  a  strange  condition  for 
a  Christian  Roman  to  include  in  the  terms,  which  shows 
that  the  old  religion  could  still  be  recognised  for  motives 
of  policy. 

11.  Very  shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty, 
Maximinus  died  ;  whereupon  the  Blemmyes  and  Nobatae 
at  once  disregarded  their  agreement,  and  invaded  the 
Thebaid,  in  w^hich  they  found  and  recovered  the  hostages 
whom  they  had  recently  given.  But  Florus,  the  prefect 
of  Alexandria,  returned  to  the  attack,  and  compelled 
them  to  agree  to  peace  again. ^-'^^^ 

12.  The  relations  between  the  government  and  the 
Church  in  Alexandria  were  growing  still  more  strained. 
The  former  represented  the  ideas  of  Constantinople,  the 
latter  those  of  Egypt  ;  and  when  the  emperor,  to  deprive 
the  Alexandrian  mob  of  their  usual  leader  in  their 
risings  against  his  representative,  obtained  at  a  general 
council  at  Chalkedon  the  excommunication  of  Dioscorus, 
the  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  and  sent  to  replace  him  an 
orthodox  bishop  in  the  person  of  Proterius,  the  populace 
of  Alexandria  rose  against  the  imperial  nominee,  and 
the  imperial  troops  who  escorted  him  defeated  them,  and 
drove  the  leaders  into  the  temple  of  Sarapis,  which  they 
burnt  wuth  those  in  it.    It  needed  a  reinforcement  of 


THE  RIVAL  PATRIARCHS 


loi 


two  thousand  men  and  a  regular  sack  of  Alexandria 
to  secure  the  new  bishop  on  his  throne  ;  and  their  guilt 
was  brought  home  to  the  citizens  by  a  stoppage  of  the 
public  games,  closure  of  the  baths,  and  withdrawal  of 
the  corn  supply.*^  ^■"'^ 

LEO  I. 
457-474- 


13.  The  bishopric  of  Proterius,  however,  was  of  short 


Fig.  78.— The  White  Monastery :  North  door.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


I02     SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH     [379-527  a.d. 

duration.  Since  it  was  only  by  the  help  of  the  army  he 
had  been  put  in  office,  so  soon  as  the  commander  of 
that  army  was  called  aw^ay  to  Upper  Egypt,  the  Alex- 
andrians rose  in  rebellion,  and  chose  a  monk  named 
Timotheus  ^lurus  as  their  patriarch.  Before  the 
prefect  could  return  to  Alexandria,  they  had  murdered 
Proterius.  But,  in  spite  of  this  unmistakable  evidence 
as  to  the  feelings  of  the  people,  the  emperor  w^as  per- 
suaded by  the  advice  of  the  bishops  to  refuse  to  recog- 
nise a  heterodox  priest  ;  and  he  proceeded  to  set  aside 
the  choice  of  the  Egyptian  Church  in  favour  of  a  nominee 
of  his  own,  Timotheus  Salophaciolus-^-^") 

LEO  II. 

474- 
ZENO. 
474-491. 

14.  At  length  the  troubles  which  arose  after  the 
accession  of  Zeno  at  Constantinople  brought  for  a  time 
to  the  throne  a  ruler  whose  religious  opinions  were 
those  of  the  Egyptian  Church,  in  the  person  of  Basilicus, 
475  A. D.]  who  succeeded  in  expelling  Zeno  from  his  capital.  He 
forthwith  restored  Timotheus  y^^lurus  to  Alexandria  ; 
and  that  priest  held  the  office  of  patriarch  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  just  in  time  to  save  him  from 
fresh  deposition  by  Zeno,  who  had  recovered  his 
throne. (-''^^  The  Alexandrians  then  chose  Peter  Mongus, 
who  was,  as  usual,  deposed  by  the  emperor's  orders  in 
favour  of  his  old  nominee,  Timotheus  Salophaciolus. 
He,  however,  also  soon  died ;  and  thereon  a  fresh 
dilemma  was  created  by  the  choice  of  the  people  falling 
upon  John.  The  new  patriarch  had  formerly  been  sent 
as  representative  of  the  Egyptian  Church  to  Constanti- 
nople, to  ask  that  they  might  in  future  choose  their  own 
bishops  ;  and  he  had  been  required  by  the  emperor, 
before  the  desired  favour  was  granted,  to  swear  that 
he  would  not  take  the  bishopric  if  it  were  offered  to 
him.    In  view  of  this  oath,  Zeno  apparently  thought 


THE  RELIGIOUS  TRUCE 


it  the  lesser  of  two  evils  to  disregard  John  and  recall 
Peter  Mongus,  who  had  been  chosen  by  the  Church  on 
a  previous  occasion.  He  agreed  to  the  publication  by  [482 
the  emperor  of  an  edict,  styled  the  Henotikon,  which 
was  intended  to  restore  the  ecclesiastical  position  of 
things  which  had  existed  before  the  Council  of  Chalkedon 
had  proclaimed  war  on  the  opinions  of  the  Egyptians  ; 
and,  accordingly,  provided  that  the  decrees  of  that 
council  should  be  left  in  oblivion.  Peter,  however, 
almost  immediately  disregarded  the  agreement,  and 
banished  from  the  Egyptian  monasteries  all  monks  who 
held  to  the  Chalkedonian  decrees  ;  to  which  measure 
the  emperor  replied  by  sending  a  reinforcement  to  the 
garrison  of  Egypt,  and  deporting  the  ringleaders  of 
the  Alexandrians  to  Constantinople. 

ANASTASIUS. 
491-518. 

Papyri.— B.M.  iiz^"";  G.G.P.  i.  55;  G.O.P.  i.  141. 

15.  Peace  was  secured  at  length  by  the  death  of 
Peter,  and  the  election  of  Athanasius  to  the  bishopric  ; 
and  for  the  rest  of  the  reign  of  Zeno  and  the  whole 
of  that  of  Anastasius,  the  religious  troubles  of  the 
Egyptians  were  lulled  to  rest.("2^^)  It  was  well  for  the 
maintenance  of  Roman  rule  in  Egypt  that  thfey  were 
so  ended,  as  the  Persians,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
threatening  the  Eastern  frontier,  invaded  the  Delta. 
The  imperial  forces  were  unable  to  defend  the  open 
country  ;  but  they  held  Alexandria  until  the  invaders 
retired,  in  spite  of  difficulties  caused  by  the  insufficiency 
of  supplies  in  the  city.<^-"^) 

16.  With  the  view  of  distracting  the  attention  of  the 
Persians  from  Egypt,  Anastasius  sent  an  embassy  to 
the  Homeritae  of  Arabia,  to  arrange  for  an  attack  by 
them  upon  the  neighbouring  territories  of  Persia  from 
the  south.(^^^) 


104     SUPREMACY  OF  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH     [379-527  a.d. 


JUSTINUS  I. 
518-527. 

17.  A  second  embassy  was  sent  to  the  same  Homeritae 
by  Justinus  ;  and  the  results  achieved  were  satisfactory, 
as  far  as  promises  went.  The  king-  of  the  Homeritae 
undertook  to  invade  the  Persian  territory,  and  to  keep 
open  the  trade  route  between  Egypt  and  India.  The 
promises,  however,  do  not  appear  to  have  been  kept-^-*"^) 


18.  In  addition  to  grasping-  at  the  chief  power  in  the 
government  of  Egypt,  the  Christian  Church  seems 
during-  this  period  to  have  concentrated  in  its  hands 
most  of  the  wealth  of  the  country.  The  monastic 
corporations  certainly  held  large  quantities  of  land, 
which  were  cultivated  by  the  monks  ;  and  the  account 
in  the  Life  of  Schnoudi,  how  his  monastery  fed  the 
prisoners  recovered  from  the  Blemmyes  for  three 
months,  at  a  cost  of  265,000  drachmae,  with  85,000 
artabai  of  wheat  and  200  artaba  of  olives,  is  not  improb- 
ably correct. The  manner  in  which  whole  districts 


Fig.  79.— The  White  Monastery  :  South  wall.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


POWER  OF  THE  MONASTERIES 


05 


were  under  monastic  vows  has  already  been  noticed  ; 
and  this  would  mean  that  the  produce  of  all  the  work 
of  the  inhabitants  would  pass  through  the  hands  of  the 
superiors  of  the  monasteries.  These  corporations  were 
strong  enough,  both  in  their  influence  and  in  their 
buildings,  to  resist  any  undue  exactions  on  the  part 
of  the  government,  and  thus  to  secure  their  general 
prosperity  and  the  comfort  of  each  individual  member. 
Those  who  were  not  monks,  however,  suffered  severely 
both  at  the  hands  of  the  government  tax-collectors 
and  at  those  of  the  wandering  desert  tribes,  whether 
Saracens  on  the  east,  Blemmyes  on  the  south,  or 
Mazices  on  the  west  frontier. Most  of  all,  perhaps, 
did  Alexandria  suffer.  The  expulsion  of  the  Jews  by 
Cyril  dealt  a  most  serious  blow  to  the  trade  of  the  city, 
as  the  plunderers  who  seized  their  houses  had  neither 
the  ability  nor  the  desire  to  continue  their  business. 
Thus  a  few  years  later  an  additional  supply  of  corn  U36  a.d. 
for  the  relief  of  the  citizens,  in  spite  of  a  considerable 
decrease  in  population,  was  necessary. 


CHAPTER  VII 


Union  of  Temporal  and  Religious  Power, 
527-668  A.D. 

JUSTINIANUS  I. 
527-565- 

Papyri.— B.G.V.  305,  364,  370,  673,  736;  Pap.  B.M.  1135^); 
G.G.P.  i.  56,  57,  58,  ii.  85;  G.O.P.  i.  125,  133,  140,  142, 
143,  145,  146,  147,  148,  197,  205,  206. 

I.  The  first  work  in  Egypt  to  which  the  attention 
of  Justinian  was  called  was  the  quarrel  of  the  rival 


Fig.  80. — Byzantine  sculptures  :  from  Ahnas.    (E.E.F.  Report.) 
106 


UNION  OF  PREFECT  AND  PATRIARCH  107 


patriarchs  ;  and  he  tried  to  settle  the  matter  by  sending- 
a  nominee  of  his  own.  But  the  patriarchs  from  Con- 
stantinople, in  spite  of  the  assistance  given  them  by  the 
imperial  troops,  were  never  able  to  hold  their  position 
long"  ;  and  when  the  second  of  Justinian's  nominees  was 
expelled  by  his  flock,  he  was  perforce  accompanied  by 
all  other  Egyptian  bishops  who  dissented  frorn  the 
national  Monophysite  beliefs. (^''"^ 

2.  Justinian  met  force  with  force,  and  gave  the  new 
patriarch,  Apollinarius,  the  office  also  of  prefect,  so 
that  the  ruler  of  the  Church  would  have  more  readily 
at  his  hand  the  soldiers  who  were  required  to  enforce 
his  decisions  upon,  and  collect  his  revenues  from,  the 
people  under  his  care.  The  new  patriarch  signalised 
his  arrival  by  a  general  massacre  of  the  Alexandrian 
mob,  who  refused  to  receive  or  listen  to  him,  and  even 
stoned  him  in  the  church  where  he  endeavoured  to 
address  them  ;  and  thus  succeeded  in  removing  the 
most  turbulent  among  the  elements  in  the  country 
opposed  to  his  rulc^^"^) 

3.  This  action  on  the  part  of  Justinian  with  regard 
to  the  patriarchate  virtually  amounted  to  little  more 
than  a  transference  of  all  the  temporalities  of  the 
Egyptian  Church  to  the  prefect  of  Alexandria ;  as 
henceforward  that  official,  though  nominal  patriarch, 
exercised  no  religious  influence,  and  probably  per- 
formed a  minimum  of  religious  functions.  The  people 
of  Egypt  looked  up  to  the  Monophysite  or  Jacobite 
patriarch,  who  was  elected  by  the  Churches,  and  in 
whose  hands  the  spiritual  government  of  the  country 
accordingly  lay. 

4.  In  addition  to  uniting  the  offices  of  prefect  and 
patriarch,  Justinian  began  to  make  regular  use  of  the 
monks  and  their  establishments  for  military  purposes. 
The  strong  monasteries  of  Upper  Egypt  had  for  long 
served  as  refuges  to  the  surrounding  population  during 
the  plundering  inroads  of  the  desert  tribes  ;  and  now, 
to  protect  the  passes  under  Mount  Sinai  on  the  road 
to  Egypt  from  Syria,  which  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  Persians,  a  group  of  buildings  was  erected  to 


io8       TEMPORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  POWER      [527-668  a.u. 

serve  the  purposes  ))oth  of  monastery  and  fort,  and 
was  garrisoned  with  monks. (-~^) 


Fig.  8r. — Bvzantine  capital :  from  Ahnas. 
(E.E.F.  Report.) 

5.  Any  advantage  which  might  have  accrued  to  the 
Roman  Empire  in  its  struggle  with  the  Persians  from 
the  treaties  concluded  by  Anastasius  and  Justinus  w^ith 
the  Homeritae  of  Arabia,  was  soon  nullified  by  the 
quarrels  of  that  people  with  the  kingdom  of  Axum, 
on  the  opposite  coast  of  the  Red  Sea.  These  quarrels 
arose  out  of  the  Indian  trade,  in  which  both  nations 
had  considerable  interest.  The  Axumitae  accused  their 
neighbours  of  killing  Roman  merchants,  and  undertook 
the  duty  of  punishing  them  ;  and  Hadad  the  king  of 
Axum  made  a  successful  expedition  into  Arabia  ;  after 
which  he  sent  an  embassy  to  Alexandria  to  renew- 
friendly  relations  with  the  Roman  government,  which 
were  to  be  strengthened  by  the  despatch  of  an  Egyptian 
bishop  to  Axum.<--^^) 

6.  For  a  few  years  the  Indian  trade  flowed  smoothly 
through  this  channel,  to  the  satisfaction  of  Justinian, 
who  thus  succeeded  in  diverting  to  his  own  dominions 
what  had  latterly  been  a  source  of  profit  to  his  enemies 


TRADE  THROUGH  AXUM 


109 


the  Persians  ;  since,  when  the  Red  Sea  route  was 
blocked  by  the  Homeritae,  the  only  alternative  line  for 
the  silk  and  spices  of  the  East  to  reach  Europe  was 
throug-h  Persian  territory.  It  was,  however,  necessary 
for  Roman  ambassadors  to  visit  both  Arabia  and 
Abyssinia  from  time  to  time  ;  and  at  length  a  fresh 
quarrel  led  to  a  determined  attempt  on  the  part  of 


^1  iiuio.  oy  W.  2vl.  F.  Petnc.  j 


Elesbaan,  the  king"  of  Axum,  to  reduce  the  Homeritag 
to  dependence.  His  expedition  was  immediately  suc- 
cessful, and  he  set  up  a  follower  of  his  own  as  king" ; 
but  the  new  ruler  was  shortly  deposed  in  favour  of 
Abraham,  who,  when  an  Axumite  army  was  sent  to 
reduce  the  country,  won  it  over  to  his  side,  and  defeated 
a  second.  The  Axumitce  were  thereon  obliged  to  make 
peace  ;  and  the  hopes  of  the  Romans — that  they  might 


no       TEMPORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  POWER     [527-668  a.d. 


succeed  in  harassing'  the  Persians  from  this  quarter — 
came  to  nothing-/-^"^^) 

7.  On  the  Southern  frontier,  the  treaty  made  with  the 
Blemmyes  and  Nobatai  after  their  defeat  by  Maximinus 
and  Florus  had  been  observed  fairly  well,  to  judge  by 
the  absence  of  any  record  of  raids  from  this  quarter 
during  the  century  that  had  elapsed  since  that  time. 
But  Justinian,  whether  in  consequence  of  renewed  raids 
by  these  tribes  on  the  termination  of  the  hundred  years 
for  which  the  treaty  had  been  made,  or  with  a  view  of 
putting  a  stop  to  the  continuance  of  pagan  rites  in  the 
temples  of  Philae,  which  had  been  secured  by  the  pro- 
vision in  the  treaty  empowering-  the  barbarians  to  visit 
the  sacred  island  yearly  for  purposes  of  worship,  sent 
Narses  the  Persarmenian  up  the  Nile,  with  orders  to 
destroy  the  temple  of  Isis  at  Philce  ;  which  he  did, 
imprisoning  the  priests,  and  bringing  the  statues  to 
Con  s  t  a  n  t  i  n  opl  e . 

8.  A  policy  similar  to  that  which  has  been  suggested 
by  the  action  of  Justinian  with  regard  to  the  temples  of 
Philae  was  shown  earlier  in  his  reign  in  his  treatment 
of  the  philosophical  school  of  Alexandria,  which  had 
been  one  of  the  chief  strongholds  of  the  older  religions, 
till  he  strictly  enforced  a  law  against  their  teaching, 
and  drove  the  leading  professors  to  take  refuge  with 
the  Persians. 

JUSTINUS  11. 
565-578. 

Inscription. — Greek  :  C.I.G.  iv.  8646. 

Papyri. — B.G.U.  306;  G.O.P.  i.  126,  134,  149,  195,  199. 

9.  The  policy  of  Justinian  with  regard  to  the  Blem- 
myes soon  proved  an  unwise  one.  The  Roman  govern- 
ment was  not  strong  enough  to  keep  its  neighbours 
quiet  by  force  of  arms,  and  the  destruction  of  the  temple 
of  Isis  at  Philae  had  removed  the  one  object  in  Roman 
territory  for  which  they  felt  respect  ;  so  they  resumed 
their  plundering  raids,  and  obliged  the  commander  of 

577  A.D.]the  Thebaid,  Theodorus,  to  renew  the  fortifications 
of  Phil^.(-^83) 


INROADS  OF  BLEMMYES 


TIBERIUS  II. 
578-582. 

Papyn\—B.GX\  317;  G.G.P.  i.  60;  G.O.P.  i.  135,  144, 
193,  198,  202. 

10.  Further  measures  were  necessary,  however,  as 
these  fortifications  we.re  insufficient  in  themselves  to 
stop  the  attacks  of  the  desert  tribes  ;  and  Aristomachus, 
the  general  of  the  Egyptian  troops  under  Tiberius,  was 
obliged  to  undertake  a  campaign  against  the  Nubians 
and  Mauretanians,  whom  he  defeated. (-s^) 

11.  Egypt  seems  to  have  been  rapidly  drifting  into  a 


Fig.  83. — Coptic  tombstones  :  in  Ghizeh  Museum. 
(Photo,  by  W.  M.  F.  Petrie.) 


State  of  anarchy,  while  officials  and  subjects  alike  did 
what  was  right  in  their  own  eyes,  and  the  government 
at  Constantinople  seemed  capable  of  nothing  but  vacil- 
lation. Aristomachus  w'as  accused  of  having  behaved 
too  presumptuously  in  his  command,  and  was  arrested 
and  brought  to  Constantinople  ;  but  was  promptly 
pardoned,  and  justified  his  pardon  by  his  victory  above 
mentioned. 


112 


TEMPORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  POWER 


[527-668  A.D. 


MAURICIUS. 
582-602. 

Papjyri.—B.G.U.  255,  295,  303,  309,  395,  397,  399,  400,  402;  Pap. 
B.M.  iis\  113^-;  G.G.P.  ii.  86,  87,  88;  Louvre,  N.  et  E.  20, 
21  bis,  2  Iter;  Rev.  Eg-ypt.  iv.  pp.  58  ff.,  No.  17;  G.O.P.  i.  136, 
i37>  150*  201,  207. 

12.  Further  evidence  of  the  chaotic  state  of  affairs  is 
given  by  some  events  of  the  next  reign.  Certain  men 
plundered  the  two  villages  of  Kynopolis  and  Busiris, 
in  the  Delta,  "without  authorisation  from  the  prefect 
of  the  nome "  ;  and  when  the  officials  at  Alexandria 
threatened  them  with  punishment,  they  collected  a  body 
of  men,  and  seized  the  corn  which  was  being  sent  from 
the  country  to  Alexandria, — thus  a  famine  was  caused 
in  the  city.  The  government  acted  with  its  usual  vacilla- 
tion :  John,  the  prefect  of  Alexandria,  was  deposed,  but 
as  soon  as  he  had  offered  an  explanation,  was  reinstated. 
This  measure,  naturally,  did  not  check  the  riots  in  the 
country,  and  an  army  was  required  to  crush  the  revolt. 
Another  outbreak  of  brigandage,  under  one  Azarias, 
occurred  at  Panopolis,  but  proved  less  serious. 

PHOCAS. 
602-610. 

Papyri. — B.G.U.  3,  365;  Rec.  Tr.  vi.  p.  63,  No.  5. 

13.  When  Heraclius  raised  the  standard  of  revolt 
against  Phocas,  Egypt  became  for  a  time  the  main 
seat  of  the  war.  Bonakis  was  sent  thither  to  secure 
the  country  for  the  Heraclian  party  ;  and,  after  he  had 
defeated  the  imperial  general  of  Alexandria  outside  the 
walls,  was  received  into  the  city  with  enthusiasm  by 
the  clergy  and  people.  All  Egypt  thereon  made  common 
cause  with  the  insurgents,  two  of  the  prefects  alone 
standing  to  the  side  of  Phocas  ;  but  reinforcements 
from  Constantinople,  under  Bonosus,  soon  arrived  and 
made  their  headquarters  at  Athribis.  In  a  battle 
which  shortly  afterwards  took  place,  Bonakis  was 
killed,  and  the  remnants  of  his  troops  were  driven  into 
Alexandria.(286) 


INVASION  OF  PERSIANS 


3 


14.  Bonakis  was  succeeded  in  his  command  by 
Niketas,  who  collected  the  Heraclian  forces  at  Alex- 
andria, and  went  out  to  attack  Bonosus  ag'ain.  On 
this  occasion  the  insurgents  were  successful  ;  but 
Bonosus  rallied  his  troops  at  Nikiou,  and  continued 
to  threaten  Alexandria  till  another  defeat  had  been 
inflicted  on  him,  when  he  fled  to  Constantinople,  leaving 
Niketas  master  of  the  country. (-^") 

HERACLIUS  I. 
610-641. 

Papyri.— B.G.U.  314,  319,  368,  370,  398,  401,  725;  Pap.  B.M.  11 

ii3i«,  483  ;  Louvre,  N.  et  E.  21  ;  Rec.  Tr.  vi.  p.  63  ;  R.E.  iv. 
pp.  58 ff.,  No.  18  ;  G.O.P.  i.  138,  139,  151,  152,  153  ;  Journal  of 
Philolog-y,  xxii.  p.  268. 

15.  During-  the  whole  of  the  sixth  century  the  pressure 


Fig.  84. — Designs  from  fragments  of  Coptic  pottery.    (Petrie  Collection.) 


of  the  Persians  on  the  eastern  frontiers  of  the  Roman 
Empire  had  steadily  increased  ;  and  it  was  beginning-  to 
be  seriously  felt  in  Egypt  when  Heraclius  was  recog- 
nised as  emperor.  As  the  Persian  armies  advanced, 
numerous  fugitives  from  Syria  and  Palestine  took 
V— 8 


114       TEMPORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  POWER     [527-668  a.d. 


rcfug"e  in  Kgi'ypt  ;  and  when  the  enemy  invaded  the 
•Delta,  the  refugees  were  driven  into  Alexandria.  This 
city  was  thus  crowded  with  a  great  multitude  of  people 
wholly  dependent  for  their  support  on  charity ;  and 
w^hen  the  difficulty  of  feeding-  them,  which  chiefly  fell 
616  A.D.]  upon  the  patriarch  John,  became  an  impossibility, 
through  a  failure  of  the  harvest,  John  fled  to  Cyprus 
with  the  imperial  general  Niketas,  and  left  the  province 
of  Egypt  to  the  Persians. (-''^^^ 

16.  The  new  governors  of  Egypt  entered  into  their 
inheritance  quietly,  and  almost  naturally  ;  as  the 
Persian  army  was  largely  drawn  from  Syria  and  Arabia, 


of  an  Oriental  to  that  of  a  Greek  monarch. 

17.  The  Persian  rule  in  Egypt  lasted  for  ten  years, 
until  the  revolt  of  the  Arabs,  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  teaching  of  Mohammed,  deprived  the  king 
of  Persia  of  his  most  effective  soldiers,  and  gave  the 
Romans  a  chance  of  recovering  some  of  their  lost 
provinces  in  the  East.  Heraclius  marched  through 
Syria  into  Egypt,  and  drove  out  the  Persians  ;  with 
them  went  the  patriarch  Benjamin,  who  had  received 
his  appointment  with  their  approval  when  John,  the 
Roman  prefect-patriarch,  fled,  and  who  would  con- 
sequently be  regarded  by  the  Romans  less  as  a  bishop 


Fig.  85. — Coptic  painted  pottery. 
(Petrie  Collection.) 


whose  tribes  had  been 
in  contact  and  relation- 
ship with  the  native 
Egyptians  from  time  im- 
memorial. Thus  they 
had.  no  great  difficulty 
in  ruling  Egypt ;  the 
wealthier  classes  had 
probably  a  large  inter- 
mixture of  Arabs  amongst 
them,  who  welcomed  the 
rule  of  their  kinsmen, 
while  the  fellaheen  at 
the  worst  only  changed 
masters,  and  possibly 
preferred  the  government 


INVASION  OF  ARABS 


chosen  by  the  Egyptians  than  as  a  rebel  who  had 
taken  office  under  the  Persians. 

18.  The  Romans,  however,  were  not  left  for  long-  in 
the  peaceful  possession  of  Egypt,  though  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  raised  no  disturbance  at  the  fresh  change 
of  rulers.  The  Arabs,  whose  revolt  from  Persia  had 
enabled  Heraclius  to  recover  Egypt,  soon  began  to 
push  forward  against  the  frontiers  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  to  threaten  Egypt.  For  awhile  they  were  bought 
off  by  subsidies        but,  on  the  stoppage  of  payments, 

the  Saracen  general  'Amr-ibn-al-'Asi  entered  Egypt  with  [639,  Dec. 
an  army  of  three  thousand  men,  and,  after  a  month's 
siege,  captured  the  frontier  fortress  of  Pelusium.  He 
then  advanced  against  Babylon,  where  Theodorus  the 
prefect  was  collecting  the  Roman  troops,  and  intending 
to  attack  the  Arabs  after  the  inundation  in  order  to  pro- 
tect the  sewing  of  the  crops  ;  but  'Amr,  who  had 
received  considerable  reinforcements  from  Arabia,  sur- 
rounded and  defeated  the  Romans  at  Heliopolis.  He  [640,  July, 
then  blockaded  the  fortress  of  Babylon,  and  overran 
the  Fayum  and  Middle  Egypt,  the  garrisons  of  which 
retired  down  the  river. (^^"^^ 

19.  The  Roman  army  had  not  made  much  show  of 
resistance  against  the  invaders,  largely  on  account  of 
the  dissensions  among  their  leaders,  and  the  lukewarm- 
ness  or  treachery  of  the  Coptic  population.  A  number 
of  the  leading  Copts  had  actually  gone  over  to  the 
Arabs  ;  the  most  noted  among  whom  was  George,  a 
prefect,  who  began  openlv  to  help  them  after  the  battle 
of  Heliopolis.(29i) 

20.  In  the  course  of  the  autumn,  'Amr  advanced 
Northwards  towards  the  Delta,  and  drove  all  the 
Roman  troops  before  him  into  it.  He  was  unable, 
however,  to  penetrate  it,  and  was  obliged  to  turn  back 
and  secure  the  Rif.^^^-) 

CONSTANTINUS  H. 
641. 

21.  After  the  death  of  Heraclius,  the  government 


ii6      TEMPORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  POWER     [527-668  a.d. 


officials  at  Constantinople  decided  to  try  a  waiting 
policy  in  Egypt  ;  they  directed  Theodorus  to  pay  tribute 
to  *Amr,  and  so  keep  him  quiet,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  be  on  the  alert  for  any  chance  to  attack  him.  Re- 
inforcements for  the  Egyptian  army  were  also  promised, 
641,  April  but  never  arrived.  In  the  meantime,  'Amr  took  Baby- 
Ion,  and  a  few  weeks  later  Nikiou,  from  both  of  which 
the  garrisons  retired  to  Alexandria. ^•■^^^ 

HERACLONAS. 

641-  642. 

22.  The  city  of  Alexandria  was  now  subjected  to  a  regu- 
lar siege  ;  but  it  was  in  no  condition  to  withstand  one. 
Theodorus  the  prefect,  had  been  summoned  to  Rhodes  ; 
and  the  two  leading  commanders  left  in  the  city, 
Domentianus  and  Menas,  quarrelled  till  they  came  to 
open  conflict.  Added  to  this  was  the  opposition  of  the 
clergy  to  the  new  emperor  Heraclonas,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  the  off"spring  of  an  uncanonical  marriage 
between  Heraclius  and  his  niece  Martina.  At  length 
Theodorus  returned,  and  settled  the  quarrel  by  ex- 
pelling Domentianus  ;  and  at  the  same  time  Cyrus  the 
patriarch  arrived,  with  authority  to  conclude  peace. 
Peace  was  what  the  Romans  and    Egyptians  alike 

641.  Oct.      desired  ;  so  Cyrus  went  to  Babylon,  and  came  to  terms 

with  'Amr.  He  agreed  that  tribute  should  be  paid  by 
the  Alexandrians,  and  that  the  Roman  forces  should 
evacuate  Alexandria  in  eleven  months,  on  condition 
that  in  the  meantime  there  should  be  a  cessation  of 
hostilities,  and  that  the  Jews  and  Christians  should 
thereafter  remain  unmolested. (-^^^ 

CONSTANS  II. 

642-  668. 

642,  Sept.        23,  In  accordance  with  the  agreement,  Theodorus 

and  his  troops  withdrew  from  Alexandria  at  the  end 
of  the  specified  time,  and  the  Roman  Empire  in  Egypt 
was  ended. 


POVERTY  OF  EGYPT 


117 


24.  There  is  little  detailed  evidence  for  judging-  of 
the  general  condition  of  Egypt  during  the  last  century 
of  its  government  by  the  Romans.  But  the  impression 
produced  by  reading  its  history  is  one  of  hopeless 
poverty.  The  cultivators  of  the  soil  were  merely  re- 
garded as  so  many  machines  for  raising  corn  ;  and 
corn  became  almost  the  only  industry  and  currency  of 
Egypt. What  wealth  there  was,  was  concentrated 
in  a  few  hands,  and  whole  villages,  as  has  been  already 
seen,  became  dependent  on  some  rich  man.^-^")  The 
consequence  of  this  poverty  was  shown  in  the  indiffer- 
ence with  which  the  Egyptians  regarded  any  change 
in  their  government,  and  the  entire  absence  of  any 
attempt  to  take  a  part  in  deciding  who  should  rule  in 
the  State  or  the  Church.  They  had  sunk  so  low,  that 
even  religious  controversy  could  not  rouse  them.  Only 
in  Alexandria  the  factions  in  the  circus  could  raise  a 
fight  from  time  to  time,  and  distract  the  attention  of 
the  populace  from  the  laborious  task  of  opposing  the 
Arabs  to  the  more  congenial  one  of  breaking  each 
other's  heads.^^^s) 


CHAPTER  VIII 


The  Revenues  and  Taxation  of  Egypt 

1.  The  amount  which  was  to  be  contributed  by  Egypt 
to  the  imperial  treasury  was  a  matter  for  the  special 
consideration  of  the  emperor  year  by  year.  He  not 
only  decided  how  much  revenue  was  to  be  raised  in 
the  province,  but  issued  special  directions  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  to  be  collected. His  orders 
were  addressed  to  the  prefect,  from  whom  they  passed 
in  turn  to  the  epistrategoi,  strateg"oi,  and  village 
authorities.  Each  of  these  officials  determined,  in 
regard  to  assessed  taxes,  how  the  amount  required 
from  his  own  district  should  be  divided  among  the 
smaller  districts  which  were  comprised  in  it.  Thus 
the  prefect  fixed  the  sum  to  be  paid  by  each  epistrategia, 
the  epistrategos  that  by  each  nome  in  his  province,  the 
strategos  that  by  each  village  in  his  nome,  while  the 
village  authorities  decided  and  collected  the  payments 
due  from  each  individual. ('^^^^ 

2.  The  most  important  of  all  the  taxes  levied  in 
Egypt  was  the  corn  tax,  which  was  collected  in  kind 
from  the  villages,  and  used  to  furnish  the  tribute  of 
corn  sent  to  feed  Rome.  For  the  purpose  of  this  tax 
there  was  kept  an  elaborate  register  of  lands  under 
cultivation, (^"^i)  by  the  aid  of  which  the  village  authorities 
assessed  upon  the  farmers  the  amounts  respectively 
payable.  In  determining  these  amounts,  they  were 
directed  to  have  special  regard  to  the  rise  of  the  Nile, 
so  that  lands  which  had  been  out  of  the  reach  of  the  flood 
in  any  particular  year  should  be  more  lightly  taxed 

118 


THE  CORN  TAX  119 

than  those  which  had  been  fertihsed  by  the  inunda- 
tion.^^^-^  The  exact  manner  in  which  the  incidence  of 
the  tax  was  ultimately  decided  is  not  certain  ;  but  it 
appears  probable  that  each  village  as  a  whole  was 
liable  to  pay  a  certain  amount,  and  that  this  liability  was 
met,  in  the  first  instance,  by  any  common  property  which 
the  village  possessed,  while  the  surplus  over  and  above 
what  this  produced  was  divided  amongst  the  individual 
members  of  the  community,  at.  rates  which  were  most 
likely  calculated  on  the  amount  of  land  each  held  and 
the  crops  raised  on  each  holding. (^^-^^  In  one  list,  which 
apparently  refers  to  this  tax,  the  rates  vary  from  two 
and  a  half  to  seven  artabai  per  aroura,  the  commonest 
rate  being  four  and  twenty-seven  fortieths  artabai. (^^-^ 
The  actual  work  of  collection  of  the  tax  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  sitologoi  and  their  assistants, ^-'^^^  who  also 
had  charge  of  the  public  granaries,  and  were  required 
to  make  monthly  returns  of  the  corn  stored  therein 
to  the  strategos.^''^*^)  The  amount  required  from  the 
village,  known  as  embole  or  epibole,  was  drawn  from 
these  granaries  and  transported  to  the  river  by  carriers, 
who  were  obliged  to  keep  a  certain  number  of  camels 
or  asses  for  the  public  service,  and  received  in  return  a 
regular  allowance. It  was  then  delivered  to  the 
shipmasters  on  the  river,  who  conveyed  it  to  the  imperial 
granaries  at  Alexandria  ;  all  the  expenses,  up  to  and 
including  delivery  at  Alexandria,  being  paid  by  the 
authorities  of  the  village  which  sent  the  corn.<^^^^)  The 
lands  of  Alexandria  and  the  Menelaite  nome  were 
specially  exempt  from  this  tax.('^^^) 

3.  Payments  for  the  corn  tax  were  made,  in  some 
instances,  in  money  instead  of  in  kind  ;  and  t'he  tax 
was  in  these  cases  received  by  the  praktor  of  corn 
taxes,  in  place  of  the  sitologos.^-^^^)  Probably  it  was 
open  to  a  farmer  to  pay  in  the  value  of  the  corn  for 
which  he  was  liable,  in  place  of  the  corn  itself. 

4.  Another  tax,  payable,  like  the  embole,  in  corn, 
and  collected  by  the  sitologoi,  was  the  annona.  Details 
as  to  this  tax  are  rare  ;  but  it  appears  probable  that  it 
was  for  the  supply  of  the  allowance  of  corn  made  to 


I20    THE  REVENUES  AND  TAXATION  OF  EGYPT 


Alexandria,  as  the  embole  was  for  that  to  Rome  and 
Constantinople. (^11) 

5.  In  connection  with  the  corn  tax  should  be  mentioned 
the  custom  by  which  each  year  the  local  authorities 
supplied  to  the  farmers  in  their  district  seed-corn,  at 
the  rate  of  an  artaba  of  corn  for  each  aroura  farmed. 
This  corn  was  repaid  after  harvest  to  the  granaries, 
with  an  addition  of  two  choinikes  to  the  artaba,  or  one- 
twenty-fourth,  as  interest,  and  a  varying*  sum  for  cost 
of  collection. (^1'*)  The  interest  on  the  loan  doubtless 
went  into  the  common  store  of  the  village  to  assist  in 
meeting  the  demands  for  Rome  and  elsewhere. 

6.  The  sitologoi  had  to  meet  a  further  charge  upon 
the  village  granaries  in  the  form  of  certain  payments 
for  charitable  purposes,  which  were  made  in  corn  ;  (2^^) 
but  it  does  not  appear  whether  the  supply  for  these 
payments  was  raised  by  a  special  tax,  or  whether  it 
came  from  the  common  property  of  the  village. 

7.  In  place  of  the  corn  which  was  exacted  from  the 
farmers  whose  land  was  sown  for  this  crop,  those 
holdings  which  were  used  for  growing  garden  produce, 
or  as  vineyards,  fig-plantations,  palm-groves,  or  olive- 
yards,  were  liable  to  a  tax  payable  in  money,  and 
collected  by  the  praktores  of  money  taxes.  The  rate, 
however,  cannot  be  determined,  and  the  manner  of 
assessment  even  seems  to  have  varied.  In  one  case 
the  tax  was  ten  drachmas  per  aroura, (-^^^^  in  another 
list  it  was  from  twenty  to  forty,^^!^)  while  in  a  third  the 
payments  made  bear  no  fixed  proportion  at  all  to  the 
amount  of  land  held.^'^i'')  An  allowance  was  made  in 
the  collection  of  this  tax,  as  in  that  of  the  corn  tax,  for 
unoccupied  or  waste  lands. (''^^^ 

8.  There  were  other  taxes  on  land,  payable  in  money, 
the  nature  and  amount  of  which  is  at  present  obscure. 
A  charge  of  "  naubion  "  is  several  times  mentioned  ;  ("^i^) 
but  there  is  nothing  to  show  what  its  precise  object 
was,  beyond  the  fact  that  it  appears  among  other 
imposts  levied  on  real  property  ;  nor  what  its  rate  was, 
except  in  one  instance,  where  it  seems  to  have  been 
assessed  at  approximately  one  hundred  drachmae  per 


PROPERTY  TAXES 


121 


aroura.('^-^)  Entries  of  receipts  for  ' '  gfeometria "  are 
also  found  on  the  same  lists  with  most  of  the  taxes 
already  mentioned  ;  (^^^^  but  the  particulars  relating*  to 
this  charg-e  cannot  be  determined  :  it  was  possibly  the 
surveyor's  fee  for  his  work  in  connection  with  obtaining- 
the  necessary  particulars  of  each  estate  for  the  govern- 
ment. 

9.  House  property  was  subject  to  a  tax,  which  was 
collected  by  the  same  praktores  as  the  land  taxes, 
which  were  payable  in  money.  It  may  be  a  chance 
merely  that  the  three  receipts  for  this  tax  which  have 
been  preserved  are  for  a  hundred  drachmae  or  multiples 
of  a  hundred  ;  ('^-2)  in  the  absence  of  other  evi- 
dence it  is  perhaps  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  rate 
was  a  hundred  drachmae  for  each  house.  Another 
tax,  apparently  levied  only  on  house  property,  was  that 
described  as  arithmetikon,  which  also  was  usually 
collected  by  the  praktores.  The  sums  entered  as 
received  from  this  source,  however,  are  much  smaller 
than  those  from  the  house  tax  ;  but  they  do  not 
give  any  guidance  as  to  the  manner  of  the  assessment. 

10.  The  cattle  taxes  were  levied  on  the  various  kinds 
of  flocks  and  herds  separately  ;  receipts  for  payments 
in  respect  of  oxenj^'^'^"^)  sheep, (^^^^  and  camels  (^^g)  ^re 
found  ;  and  taxes  were  doubtless  also  laid  on  goats  and 
asses,  though  no  examples  of  these  occur.  •  Only  in 
regard  to  the  tax  on  camels  is  it  possible  to  conjecture 
the  rate  of  the  impost  ;  in  this  case  the  entries  of 
receipts  are  almost  invariably  multiples  of  ten  drachmae, 
which  suggests  that  that  sum  was  the  tax  on  each 
camel.  One  instance,  however,  is  preserved  of  a  tax 
receipt  for  twenty  drachnice  paid  on  ten  camels  ;  (-^27)  j-^y^ 
this  may  have  been  an  instalment  only.^^-^^  For  the 
purposes  of  these  taxes  a  yearly  census  of  all  kinds  of 
live  stock  liable  to  them  was  taken  by  the  local 
authorities. (^2^)  For  the  collection  of  this  branch  of 
the  revenue  the  praktores  were  responsible. 

11.  All  inhabitants  of  Egypt  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  sixty,  with  the  exception  of  certain 
privileged  classes,  were  liable  to  pay  a  poll-tax. ("^2^) 


122 


THE  REVENUES  AND  TAXATION  OF  EGYPT 


Numerous  receipts  for  payments  of  this  tax  exist  on 
ostraka,  dating-  from  the  first  and  second  centuries  ; 
these  show  it  to  have  risen  from  sixteen  drachmae  for 
each  person  under  Nero  to  seventeen  about  the  first 
year  of  Trajan,  and  further  to  twenty  soon  after  the 
accession  of  Antoninus  Pius.("''^^)  This  rise  may  possibly 
be  connected  with  the  depreciation  of  the  coinage, 
which  proceeded  in  about  the  same  proportion.  A 
census  was  taken  from  house  to  house  every  fourteen 
years  specially  with  a  view  to  this  tax  ;  the  returns  were 
sent  in  to  the  strategos  and  royal  scribe  of  the  nome, 
the  laographoi  of  the  village,  and  the  village  scribe, 
and  gave  full  particulars  as  to  the  inhabitants  of  each 
house; (^^2)  and  interim  returns  had  to  be  furnished  to 
state  any  changes  which  took  place  in  families  between 
the  census  years. From  the  poll-tax  Alexandrian 
citizens  were  exempt, (-^^^^  and  doubtless  also  Romans 
domiciled  in  Egypt ;  so,  too,  were  the  Katoikoi,  who 
were  the  descendants  of  the  Greek  soldiers  originally 
settled  in  Egypt  by  the  Ptolemies,  and  held  their  lands, 
nominally  at  any  rate,  on  condition  of  liability  to 
military  service. (-^^^^  It  appears  also  that  a  certain 
number  of  priests  at  each  temple  w^ere  allowed  to  be 
exempt. 

12.  Another  direct  tax  was  the  stephanikon,  which 
was  levied,  so  far  as  is  known,  only  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  century  ;  (^3^)  and  may  have  been  in 
theory  a  revival  of  the  old  custom  of  making  a  national 
present  to  the  king  on  his  accession,  which  w^as,  how- 
ever, extended  into  a  sort  of  recurrent  "benevolence." 
It  was  collected  by  special  praktores,  and  consisted  in 
payments  of  sums  of  four  drachmae. 

13.  A  tax  was  also  paid  by  traders  of  all  descrip- 
tions, the  sums  payable  being  reckoned  on  the  monthly 
receipts  of  the  business  in  each  case.  This  was  there- 
fore a  kind  of  income-tax  ;  but  the  percentage  charged 
cannot  be  discovered,  though  both  on  ostraka  and 
papyri  there  are  numerous  entries  of  payments  on  this 
account. 

14.  The  indirect  taxation  was  chiefly  levied  in  the 


CUSTOMS  AND  DUES 


123 


form  of  customs  and  entrance  dues,  which  were  col- 
lected, not  only  from  merchants  and  others  entering- 
the  country,  but  also  from  those  passing-  from  one  part 


Fig.  86,— Tariff-Stele  of  Koptos  :  in  Ghizeh 
Museum.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


of  the  province  to  another,  as  a  sort  of  octroi. 
Thus,  in  addition  to  the  custom-houses,  of  which 
records  have  been  preserved,  at  Syene  for  the  Nile 
trade, ^^-^'^^  at  Koptos  for  the  desert  road  from  the  Red 


124     THE  REVENUES  AND  TAXATION  OF  EGYPT 


Sgj^^(340)  ^i^g  Fayum  for  gfoods  from  the  Sahara, (^^^^ 

there  were  stations  at  Schedia/-'^^)  two  hundred  and 
forty  stades  above  Alexandria,  where  toll  was  collected 
from  boats  passing"  to  and  from  the  city,  and  at  Her- 
mopolis^^^^)  for  the  trade  between  Upper  and  Lower 
Egfypt.  A  stele  found  at  Koptos^^^^)  gives  the  rates 
charged  there  on  passengers  and  equipages,  which 
were  as  follows  :  steersmen  from  the  Red  Sea,  ten 
drachmae ;  boatswains,  ten  drachmae ;  seamen,  five 
drachmae  ;  shipwrights,  five  drachmae  ;  artisans,  eight 
drachmce;  prostitutes,  one  hundred  and  eight  drachmcE ; 
women  entering  the  country,  twenty  drachmae  ;  wives 
of  soldiers,  twenty  drachmae  ;  camel  tickets,  one  obol  ; 
sealing  of  ticket,  two  obols  ;  ticket  for  the  husband  in 
a  departing  caravan,  one  drachma  ;  all  his  women  at 
four  drachmae  each  ;  an  ass,  two  obols  ;  a  waggon 
with  a  tilt,  four  drachmae  ;  a  ship's  mast,  twenty 
drachmae  ;  a  ship's  yard,  four  drachmae  ;  a  funeral  to 
the  desert  and  back,  one  drachmae  four  obols.  The 
charge  for  camel  tickets  is  found  also  in  the  Prosopite 
and  Letopolite  nomes,  at  the  head  of  the  desert  roads 
to  Nitriotis  and  the  Fayum. The  duty  on  goods, 
both  imported  and  exported,  collected  at  the  stations 
of  Soknopaiou  Nesos,^^^*^)  Karanis,<^'^^")  Philadelphia,^-'"*^) 
and  Bacchias  ('^^^'^  in  the  Fayum,  was  an  ad  valorem 
charge  of  three  per  cent.  ;  and  it  may  be  assumed  to 
have  been  the  same  at  other  custom  -  houses  ;  except 
that  at  the  Red  Sea  ports  there  was  apparently  a  pre- 
ferential duty  against  goods  coming  through  Arabia. ("^^^ 
In  addition  to  the  customs,  there  was  a  further  charge 
made  at  the  Fayum  stations  for  the  maintenance  of  a 
guard  along  the  desert  roads.  The  collection  of  these 
taxes  was  sold  to  farmers. 

15.  Other  indirect  taxes,  which  were  farmed  in  the 
same  way  as  the  customs, (^^^^  were  the  enkyklion,  a 
fee  of  ten  per  cent,  on  sales  ;  (^^-^  a  fine  of  five  per  cent, 
on  inheritance, (-^^^^  and  one  at  a  similar  rate  on  the 
manumission  of  slaves  ;  and  a  fee,  apparently  of 
one-sixth  per  cent.,  for  the  registration  of  legal  docu- 
ments.Also,  in  case  of  failure  to  fulfil  a  contract, 


LITURGIES 


it  was  customary  for  a  fine  to  be  inflicted  for  the 
benefit  of  the  treasury. (2^*^) 

16.  An  extraordinary  burden  which  was  laid  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  Egypt  consisted  in  the  posting-rights 
claimed  by  officials  ;  and  though  these  were  expressly 
restricted  by  decree  of  the  prefect  to  the  right  to 
demand  lodgings,  and  this  only  by  those  who  had  the 
proper  authorisation  from  headquarters,  the  numerous 
oflficials  who  were  continually  journeying  about  must 
still  have  been  a  source  of  very  considerable  expense  to 
their  hosts. (^^'^  Attendance  on  the  higher  officials  was 
probably  a  hereditary  liturgy,  as  it  is  recorded  to  have 
been  in  the  case  of  a  man  whose  duty  it  was  to  row  in 
the  State-boat  of  the  governor  of  the  Thebaid  ;  ^^^^^  this 
practice  was  perhaps  derived  from  the  slave-labour  of 
slave-families  who  had  settled  into  other  work.  A 
similar  liturgy  appears  in  another  instance  at  Oxy- 
rhynchos,  where  each  tribe  in  turn  had  to  supply  a 
sailor  to  serve  on  a  public  boat  engaged  in  the  trans- 
port of  corn.^^''^)  The  most  burdensome,  however,  of 
the  liturgies  which  were  laid  upon  the  Egyptians  were 
the  local  administrative  posts,  such  as  that  of  strategos 
or  praktor  ;  ^''^^^  even  in  the  earlier  and  better  years  of 
Roman  rule  it  was  stated  in  an  official  decree  that 
many  strategoi  had  been  ruined  by  their  term  of 
office  ;  (-^^^^  while  the  labour  of  the  work  of  collecting 
taxes  which  fell  on  the  praktor  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  a  man  nominated  to  the  post  paid  a 
deputy  two  hundred  and  fifty -two  drachmae  yearly, 
which  would  represent  about  six  months'  wages. ^-^^^^ 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  not  remarkable  that 
many  men  fled  from  home  to  escape  these  burdens  ; 
as  they  might  feel  that  they  were  bound  to  lose  all  they 
had,  and  so  might  as  well  let  their  property  be  con- 
fiscated without  having  three  years'  worry  in  addition 
to  the  loss.  From  these  liturgies  Alexandrians  were 
exempt, and  therefore  also  Romans  ;  priests,  too, 
could  claim  a  similar  freedom, which  was  also 
accorded  to  veterans  for  a  period  of  five  years  after 
their  d  is  charge. 


126     THE  REVENUES  AND  TAXATION  OF  EGYPT 


17.  The  work  of  repairing  the  dykes  and  clearing"  the 
canals  partook  somewhat  of  the  nature  of  a  liturgy, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  compulsory,  though  really  it  was 
joint  labour  for  a  common  purpose.  Every  cultivator 
of  land  had  to  give  five  days  in  the  summer  of  each 
year  to  this  work,  for  which  he  received  a  certificate ; 
or,  if  he  preferred,  he  could  apparently  purchase 
exemption  at  the  rate  of  five  days'  wages  of  a  labourer, 
which  amounted  to  six  drachmae  and  four  obols  in  the 
second  century. 

18.  During  the  later  period  of  the  Roman  rule,  the 
Egyptians  were  required  to  furnish  supplies  for  the 
imperial  troops  ;  the  earliest  instance  of  this  is  in 
the  reign  of  Diocletian. One  case  is  found  of  a 
money  payment  made  for  this  same  object  by  the  Church 
of  Apollinopolis  Magna  on  account  of  a  troop  of  soldiers 
quartered  in  a  monastery. It  was  perhaps  this  tax 
which  Valens  fixed  at  the  rate  of  a  soldier's  clothing 
for  every  thirty  arourai  of  land.(  '"i) 

19.  Temple  property  was  not,  as  such,  exempt  from 
taxation.  It  paid  the  ordinary  taxes  ;  and  there 
were,  in  addition,  special  taxes  levied  under  the  names 
of  altar-tax  and  tax  on  oflferings  ;  the  former  of 
which  appears  to  have  been  calculated  at  the  rate  of 
four  per  cent,  on  the  receipts  of  the  temple. ^"'^^  It 
would  seem,  also,  that  the  State  exacted  a  due  on  each 
calf  sacrificed. These  charges  possibly  represented 
the  share  claimed  by  the  emperor  in  the  offerings  made 
to  the  gods.  Another  tax  is  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  two  first-named,  under  the  title  of  lesoneia  ;  ^^"^ 
but  it  can  only  be  supposed,  from  its  association,  to 
have  been  a  tax  on  temples.  The  priests  also  paid  a 
special  tax,  known  as  epistatikon,(3"^)  but  nothing 
definite  is  recorded  about  the  rate  or  object  of  this 
payment.  On  the  other  hand,  a  subvention  w^as  given 
from  the  imperial  treasury  towards  the  expenses  of 
maintenance  of  the  temples  of  the  gods  ;  in  which 
respect  the  Roman  emperors  followed  the  practice  of 
their  Greek  predecessors. ('^"^^ 

20.  While  the  whole  of  Egypt  was,  in  theory,  the 


ROYAL  ESTATES 


127 


private  property  of  the  Roman  emperor,  certain  lands 
were  in  a  special  sense  his  domain.  These  consisted 
of  the  old  royal  inheritance  of  the  Ptolemies,  which 
was  increased  by  confiscation  of  the  estates  of  debtors 
to  the  treasury  and  criminals,  and  by  the  reversion  of 
unclaimed  land  though,  on  the  other  hand,  domain- 
land,  at  any  rate  of  the  two  latter  classes,  was  from 
time  to  time  sold.^^^^)  The  land  was  let  out  to  culti- 
vators by  the  imperial  procurators  ;  and  an  example 
is  preserved  of  a  notice,  stating  what  royal  lands 
were  wanting  tenants. Quarries  and  mines  also 
belonged  to  the  imperial  domain,  and  were  usually 
worked  directly  by  the  State,  convict  labour  being 
employed  under  the  direction  of  a  military  guard. 


CHAPTER  IX 


Religious  Institutions 

1,  The  religious  ideas  of  Egypt  had,  by  the  time  of 
the  Roman  conquest,  been  influenced  and  modified  to 
a  considerable  extent  by  those  of  the  Greeks,  especially 
where  there  was  most  mixture  of  races.  The  process 
of  modification  had  gone  forward,  however,  unequally 
in  diff"erent  directions  :  some  of  the  old  Egyptian  gods 
remained  almost  unaffected,  even  in  districts  where 
there  was  a  strong  Greek  element ;  others  were  simply 
identified  in  name  with  the  Greek  divinities  who  most 
nearly  resembled  them  ;  while  the  attributes  and  wor- 
ship of  others  were  entirely  remodelled  in  accordance 
with  Greek  taste.  To  these  varying  developments  of 
the  Egyptian  religious  system  there  was  to  be  added 
the  purely  Hellenic  theology  which  was  preserved  by 
many  of  the  more  cultured  Greeks  ;  and  a  certain 
leaven  of  Roman  ideas  was  introduced  for  reasons  of 
State  by  the  new  government.  Outside  of  all  the  rest 
— Egyptian,  Greek,  and  Roman — stood  the  Jews,  who 
had  exercised  little  or  no  influence  on  the  ideas  of  the 
Egyptians,  and  were  unaffected  in  their  turn  by  Egyptian 
theology ;  although  the  influence  of  the  philosophy  of 
Alexandria  is  strongly  marked  in  some  of  the  later 
Jewish  writings. 

2.  The  least  modification  of  the  ancient  Egyptian 
system  was  naturally  found  in  the  country  districts, 
where  the  cultivators  of  the  soil,  who  had  never  been 
touched  by  Greek  learning,  and  whom  the  Greek  priests 
had  no  desire  to  proselytise,  continued  placidly  to  wor- 

128 


LOCAL  PRIESTHOOD 


29 


ship  the  gods  of  their  ancestors  in  the  manner  of  their 
ancestors.  The  Fayum  papyri  have  preserved  numer- 
ous records  of  the  priesthood,  possessions,  and  services 
of  Soknopaios — a  form  of  Sebek,  the  crocodile  god  of 
the  Arsinoite  noma — which  enable  a  fairly  complete 
idea  of  the  general  nature  of  local  Egyptian  worship  to 
be  formed. 

3.  There  was  at  Soknopaiou  Nesos — the  modern 
Dimeh — a  temple  of  Soknopaios,  in  which  he  was 
associated  with  Isis  Nepherses-^^*^^)  This  temple  was 
probably  the  centre  of  worship  for  the  peasants  of  the 
whole  district  ;  an  inscription  in  the  Ghizeh  Museum 


Fig.  87. — Stele  from  Soknopaiou  Nesos  :  in  Ghizeh 
Museum.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 

refers  to  the  rebuilding  of  its  precinct  wall  by  the 
shepherds  of  Nilopolis,^^SG)  ^yhile  another  inscription 
calls  Soknopaios  the  god  of  the  nome,  and  requires 
copies  of  a  decree  of  the  prefect,  relating  to  the  privileges 
of  the  priests,  to  be  set  up  in  proper  places  through- 
out the  nome/^^")  These  priests  were  organised  in  five 
V— 9 


I30 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


tribes/'^^^)  membership  of  which  appears  to  have  been 
hereditary,  and,  in  the  case  of  a  woman,  not  to  have 
been  changed  by  marriage  ;  ^^^^^  and  the  affairs  of  the 
priesthood  were  placed  in  the  general  charge  of  a 
college  of  five  elders,  representing  the  five  tribes. (-^^o) 

In  most  respects 
the  priests  were 
scarcely  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the 
ordinary  peasant  ; 
many  of  them  were 
unlettered,  (''^1)  and 
they  were  not  de- 
voted exclusively  to 
the  service  of  the 
temple,  but  were  free 
to  pursue  other  oc- 
cupations ;  like 
the  modern  der- 
vishes, who  belong 
to  religious  frater- 
nities and  join  in 
festivals,  but  work 
like  ordinary  indi- 
viduals for  their 
living.  They  had 
certain  restrictions 
laid  upon  them  ;  the 
wearing  of  woollen 
garments  and  long 
hair  being  forbid- 
den ;  and  they  had  to  be  solemnly  circumcised  by 
leave  of  the  high  priest  in  childhood. On  the 
other  hand,  they  received  a  daily  allowance  of  an 
artaba  of  corn  throughout  the  year,  and  an  extra 
amount  of  four  artabai  daily  at  feast  times,  which  seem 
to  have  occupied  nearly  half  the  year,  and  during  which 
they  would  be  required  to  be  in  attendance  at  the 
temple  ;  ^-^'^''^  and  a  subvention  was  paid  towards  the 
expenses  of  the  temples  by  the  State.    They  claimed 


Fig,  88. — Column  with  figures  of  priests:  at 
Rome.    (Photo,  by  W.  M.  F.  Petrie.) 


MINOR  NATIVE  DEITIES 


exemption  from  forced  labour,  and  this  privilege  was 
more  than  once  definitely  affirmed  by  orders  from  the 
prefect,  although  in  terms  which  suggest  that  it  was 
not  always  respected  by  the  local  authorities. (^^•'^  They 
were  not,  however,  free  from  taxes,  which  they  would 
naturally  have  to  pay  in  respect  of  the  lands  which 
they  occupied  and  cultivated  in  the  intervals  of  their 
priestly  duties  ;  but  a  certain  number  of  priests  at  each 
temple  were  allowed  to  escape  the  poll-tax. (^^")  The 
temples  also  had  to  pay  taxes  on  their  landed  property  ; 
though  the  temple  buildings  themselves  were  perhaps 
exempt. 

4.  With  Soknopaios  at  Soknopaiou  Nesos  were 
associated  Sokonpieios  or  Sokopiaiis,^^^^)  which  are 
probably  variant  names  of  another  form  of  Sebek,  and 
Enoupis,^^^^)  who  was  probably  Anubis.  Other  local 
deities  of  the  Fayum  were  Pnepheros  and  Petesouchos, 
whose  temple  has  been  found  at  Karanis  ;  Sokanob- 
konneus,  who  appears  to  have  been  the  god  of  Bac- 
chias  ;  Phemnoeris,  who  may  have  belonged  to 
Hexapotamos  and  Sukatoimos.^^^^)  Of  these,  Pete- 
souchos and  Sokanobkonneus  may  be  regarded  as 
local  forms  of  Sebek,  the  most  generally  accepted 
form  of  whose  name,  Souchos,  is  found  at  Arsinoe, 
Nilopolis,  and  Soknopaiou  Nesos  in  the  Fayum, 
and  also  in  an  inscription  from  a  site  in  the  nome  of 
Ombos.(407) 

5.  Other  local  deities,  whose  worship  persisted  until 
Roman  times  without  any  recorded  identification  of 
their  personalities  with  Greek  gods,  are  Thriphis,  the 
pronaos  of  whose  temple  at  Athribis  was  dedicated 
under  Tiberius  ;  (■'^^^  Amenebis,  whose  temple  at  Tchon- 
emyris  in  the  Theban  Oasis  was  rebuilt  under  Anton- 
inus, and  to  whom  an  inscription  of  homage  was  found 
at  Kysis  in  the  same  Oasis  ;  (^^o)  Thoeris,  whose  worship 
at  Oxyrhynchos  continued  to  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century  ;  (^^'^>  Mandoulis,  to  whom  many  votive 
inscriptions  were  written  by  the  soldiers  stationed  at 
Talmis  ;  and  Srouptichis,  mentioned  in  inscriptions 
at  Khardassy.<^^'-)    Bes  is  represented  in  the  work  at 


132  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 

Tentyra,  dating-  from  the  time  of  Trajan,  and  Roman 
terra-cotta  figures  of  him  are  found  ;  and  Phthah  ap- 


FlG.  89. — Figure  of  Bes  :  'lentyra.    (Photo.       W.  M.  F.  Petrie. ) 

pears  on  the  coins  of  Hadrian  ;  but  neither  is  mentioned 
in  inscriptions. 

6.  It  was  much  more  common, 
however,  when  the  Greeks  found 
that  the  attributes  of  an  Eg-yptian 
god  resembled  those  of  a  Greek,  for 
them  to  identify  the  two  and  unite 
their  worship.  Such  a  tendency  was 
nothing  foreign  either  to  Egyptian  or 
Fig.  90.— Phthah:  Coin  Greek  theology,  both  of  which  systems 
of  Hadrian.  (British  had  pursued  this  proccss  of  identifi- 
cation  from  the  earhest  times.  And 
there  were  obvious  advantages  in  the  economy  thus 
effected,  especially  for  the  Greeks,  who,  in  most  Egyp- 
tian country  towns,  would  not  be  sufficiently  numerous 
or  sufficiently  wealthy  to  build  or  endow  a  temple  for 


UNION  OF  GREEK  AND  NATIVE  GODS 


133 


their  own  gods,  and  could  thus  simply  get  the  enjoyment 
of  the  existing  establishments.  It  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed, however,  that  the  union  of  the  deities  went 
farther  than  their  names  ;  Pan  Khem  was  still  Pan  to 
the  Greek,  and  Khem  to  the  Egyptian,  neither  race 
really  assimilating  the  religious  conceptions  of  the 
other.  It  was  only  in  such  rare  cases  as  that  of  Sebek, 
for  whom  as  the  crocodile  god  the  Greeks  could 
not  find  an  equivalent,  that  they  accepted  the  Egyptian 
ideas. 

7.  The  most  patent  instances  of  this  assimilation 
may  be  found  in  the  Greek  names  of  the  nomes  and 
towns  of  Egypt.  When  the  Greeks  conquered  the 
country,  they  renamed  many  of  the  old  nome  capitals 
by  the  simple  process  of  taking  the  nearest  Greek 
equivalent  to  the  god  who  was  worshipped  in  each 
town,  and  styling  it  as  his  city :  thus  Thebes,  the  city 
of  Amen,  became  Diospolis  ;  and  Tes-Hor,  the  town  of 
the  raising  of  Horus,  was  called  Apollinopolis. 

8.  Instances  of  the  worship  of  gods  under  double 
names,  however,  are  not  very  common  in  the  Roman 
period.  At  Pselkis  there  was  a  temple  of  Hermes 
Pautnuphis,  to  whom  inscriptions  of  homa'ge  were 
addressed  either  under  his  compound  name  or  a  single 
one.(^^^)  Pan  Khem  was  worshipped 
at  Panopolis  and  in  the  neighbour- 
ing districts  of  the  desert.C'^i*)  At 
Tentyra  and  at  Philae  temples  were 
built  to  Aphrodite  as  identified  with 
Hathor-^-ii^)  Zeus  Amnion,  one  of 
the  earliest  of  the  joint  gods,  is 
commonly  represented  on  coins  (^1^^) ;  gi.-zeus  Am- 
and  a  dedication  to  him  with  the  mon :  Coin  of  Ha- 
addition  of  a  third  name,  Chnubis,  is  drian.  (British 
found  in  a  quarry  near  Phil£e.(4i7)   In  Museum.) 

the  last  instance  there  appears  to  have  been  a  conjunc- 
tion of  the  two  ram-headed  gods  Khnum  and  Amen. 

9.  In  Alexandria  and  Ptolemais  Hermiou,  where  the 
Greek  element  was  large  enough  to  support  temples 
without  relying  on  the  native  endowments,  the  old 


134 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


Egfyptian  deities  had  for  the  most  part  passed  out  of 
sig-ht,  and  the  g-ods  were  worshipped  under  purely 
Hellenic  attributes.  The  arrival  of  the  Roman  officials 
and  garrison  would  bring  a  considerable  accession  of 
strength  to  this  party,  who  had  hitherto  consisted 
mainly  of  the  direct  descendants  of  the  Ptolemaic 
settlers,  with  such  of  the  Alexandrian  philosophers  as 
thought  it  worth  their  while  to  worship  anything.  The 
Roman  official  religious  inscriptions,  as  distinct  from 
private  expressions  of  homage,  are  usually  in  the  names 
of  Greek  gods,  and  the  religious  types  on  the  coins 
struck  at  Alexandria  are  mainly  Greek  rather  than 
Egyptian.  Even  on  the  nome  coins,  which,  as  represent- 
ing a  quasi-local  issue,  might  have  been  expected  to 
bear  figures  of  the  old  nome  gods,  the  usual  type  is  one 
chosen  from  the  Greek  point  of  view  by  the  authorities 
at  Alexandria. ("^^^^ 

lo.  Zeus  was  known  mainly  in  his  compound  forms. 
His  Gra3CO-Egyptian  title  as  Zeus  Ammon  has  already 
been  noticed  ;  and  as  Zeus  Helios  Sarapis  he  was 
worshipped  at  Canopus,^'*^^^   and   two   temples  were 


Fig.    92.  —  Pantheistic    Zeus  Fig.  93.— Temple  of  Zeus  : 

Sarapis :  Coin  of  Hadrian.  Coin  of  'I'rajan.  (British 

( British  Museum. )  Museum. ) 


erected  to  him  at  Mons  Claudianus  in  the  reign  of 
Hadrian  ;(*20)  this  title  also  a  pantheistic  type  on  the 
coins  is  attributable. (•^-i)  An  altar  dedicated  to  Zeus 
Helios  Soter  was  found  at  Ptolemais  Hermiou,  and  an 
inscription  to  Zeus  Helios  opposite  Koptos.<^^-)    On  a 


ZEUS  AND  HERA 


135 


coin  of  Trajan  a  temple  of  Zeus,  presumably  at  Alex- 
andria, is  represented,  within  which  is  a  statue  of  the 
Greek  Zeus,  naked  and  holding*  a  thunderbolt. ("^--^^  The 
type  of  Zeus  is  a  common  one  on  Alexandrian  coins  , 
but,  with  the  exception  of  the  busts  of  Zeus  Olympios 
and  Zeus  Ncmeios  on  tetradrachms  of  Nero.^'^^'^^  issued 


Fig.  94.— Zeus  :  Coin 
of  Trajan.  (British 
Museum. ) 


Fig.  95.  —  Hera : 
Coin  of  Nero. 
(British  Museum.) 


probably  in  connection  with  local  games  at  the  time  of 
his  intention  to  visit  Eg-ypt,  there  are  no  special  forms 
that  can  be  identified. 

11.  Hera,  on  the  other  hand,  scarcely  appears  at  all  in 
Egypt.  As  Juno  she  is  associated  with  Jupiter  Ammon 
Chnubis  in  the  Latin  inscription  mentioned  above  ;  (^^^^ 
and  the  bust  of  Hera  Argeia  is  found  in  the  same  series 
of  Neronian  tetradrachms  as  the  local  types  of  Zeus.^^^c) 

12,  The  only  traces  of  the  worship  of  Poseidon  and 


Fig.  96. — Poseidon: 
Coin  of  Claudius 
II.  (British  Mu- 
seum. ) 


Fig,  97.  —  Kybele : 
Coin  of  JuUa 
Domna.  (British 
Museum. ) 


Kybele  are  in  the  coin  types  ;  and  to  Kronos  there 
exists  one  dedication  in  the  Ghizeh  Museum,  from 
ApoUinopolis  Parva.^^-'') 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


13.  To  Apollo,  jointly  with  Sarapis  and  Isis,  a  temple 
at  Senskis,  near  the  emerald  mines  of  the  eastern  desert, 
was  dedicated  ;  ^^-^^  an  inscription  of  homage  to  him  was 
found  at  Kysis  in  the  Theban  Oasis,  and  another,  of 
unknown  origin,  is  in  the  Ghizeh  Museum. A 
Sphinx  from  Ombos,  with  a  dedicatory  inscription  to 
Apollo  and  other  gods,  has  been  discovered. Among 
the  Apollo  types  on  the  coins,  which  are  not  uncommonj 


Fig.  98.  —  Apollo  :  Fig. 99. — Helios:  Coin 

Coin     of    Nero.  of  Hadrian.  (Bod- 

(British  Museum.)  leian.) 


should  be  noticed  the  figures  of  the  Apollo  of  Kanachos 
at  Branchidae,  on  coins  of  Antoninus  Pius,<^'*^i)  and  the 
busts  of  Apollo  Pythios  and  Apollo  Aktios  in  the 
"  games  "  series  of  Nero.^^^-^ 

14.  Helios,  in  the  simple  form,  as  distinguished  from 
the  pantheistic  Zeus  Helios  Sarapis,  is  represented  by 
purely  Greek  types  on  the  coins, even  the  nome  coins 
of  Heliopolis  and  Diospolis  Magna. 

15.  Artemis  likewise  occurs  only  on  coins,  and  in  the 
Greek  form  of  the  huntress  goddess :  ^^^"^^  and  Selene 
also  is  always  represented  by  a  Greek  typc^"*^^^ 


Fig.  100. — Artemis:  Fig.  iot. — Selene: 

Coin  of  Antoninus  Coin  of  Julia  Paula, 

Pius.  (British  Mu-  (British  Museum.) 
seum.) 


GREEK  DIVIi\ITIES 


137 


16.  Athene  is,  next  to  Zeus,  the  most  frequently 
represented  of  the  Greek  divinities  on  coins,  but  no 


Fig.  102. — Athene:  FiG.  103. — Temple  of  Athene: 

Coin  of  Gallienus.  Coin  of   Antoninus.  Pius. 

(British  Museum. )  (British  Museum. ) 


inscriptions  to  her  have  been  as  yet  discovered.  Her 
temple  at  Alexandria  is  found  on  a  coin  of  Antoninus 
Pius  ;  and  she  furnishes  the  type  for  the  nome  coins 
of  Sais  and  Oxyrhynchos.^^^")  The  Saite  form  is  that 
of  the  g-oddess  holding  an  owl,  identified  as  Athene 
Archegetis,  with  reference  to  the  idea  that  Athens  was 
a  colony  of  Sais,  while  at  Oxyrhynchos  she  appears 
holding-  a  double  axe,  usually  of  Egyptian  form,  with 
rounded  edges.  In  both  these  localities  she  had  taken 
the  place,  in  the  mind  of  the  Alexandrians,  of  the 
Egyptian  goddess  Nit  ;  (^^^^  but  it  is  noticeable  that  no 
reference  to  her  occurs  in  the  papyri  from  Oxyrhynchos. 

17.  Ares  similarly  appears  on  the 
nome  coins,  in  the  Upper  Sebennyte 
nome,  as  the  supplanter  of  a  native 
god,  Horus.(^^^)  He  is  represented, 
both  here  and  on  the  Alexandrian 
series,  in  a  typically  Greek  form. 

18.  Other  Greek  deities  who  occur 
very  occasionally  on  the  coins  are 
Hermes, ('^^o)  Pan,(4*i)  Dionysos,  and 
Aphrodite. The  local  identifications 
of  the  first  two  with  Mandoulis  and  Khem  have  already 
been  mentioned,  and  the  compound  deity  Hermanubis  will 


Fig.  104.  —  Ares : 
Coin  of  Hadrian. 
(Bodleian.) 


138 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


be  noticed  later.  Among'  the  people,  however,  Aphro- 
dite was  very  popular,  to  judge  by  the  number  of  small 


Fig.  105. — Dionysos  :  Coin     Fig.  106. — Pan:  Fig.  107. — Hermes: 

of  Trajan,     (British  Mu-        Coin  of  Had-  Coin  of  Claudius 

seam.)                                   rian.     (British  II.    (British  Mu- 

Museum. )  seuni. ) 


terra-cotta  figures  of  her  which  are  found  in  Egypt  ; 
and  a  figure  of  Aphrodite  is  entered  in  a  list  of  articles 
pawned  on  a  papyrus  from  Oxyrhynchos.  A  statue  of 
Aphrodite  set  up  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus  has  been 
discovered,  and  a  small  chapel  south  of  the  great 
temple  at  Ombos  was  apparently  dedicated  to  her  in 
the  reign  of  Domitian.^^'^^) 

19.  Demeter,  as  the  goddess  of  corn,  was  a  popular 
goddess  at  Alexandria  ;  and  a  reference  to  priests  of 
Demeter,  apparently  at  Hexapotamos,  is  found  in  the 


Fig.  108.— Demeter:  Fig.    109. — Rape   of  Perse- 
Coin  of  Antoninus  phone :  Coin  of  Trajan.  (Brit- 
Pius.    (British  ish  Museum.) 
Museum.) 


MINOR  GREEK  DIVINITIES 


139 


Fayum  papyri. (^^'^)  The  types  of  Demeter  on  coins  are 
common  ;  (^"^^^  and  two  empresses — Messalina^'*'^^)  and 
Sabina^^'*'') — are  represented  in  the  form  of  Demeter. 

20.  Persephone  did  not  share  in  the  popularity  of 
Demeter  ;  and  the  only  representation  of  her  is  one, 
apparently  copied  from  a  picture,  on  a  coin  of  Trajan. ^'^^^^ 

21.  Triptolemos,  on  the  other  hand,  occurs  several 
times,  and  is  shown  scattering'  seed  from  a  bag",  stand- 
ing in  a  car  drawn  by  two  serpents,  Agathodaemones.^'''^^) 


Fig.   iio. — Triptole-  Fig.  nr. — Dioskoui oi :  Coin 
mos :  Coin  of  Had-  of  Trajan.     (TSritiah  Ma- 
rian.  (British  Mu-  seum.) 
seum.) 


22.  The  worship  of  the  Dioskouroi  was  naturally 
familiar  at  Alexandria,  where  the  Pharos  was  dedicated 
to  them  ;  and  in  this  connection  they  are  represented 
on  a  coin  of  Trajan,  standing  on  either  side  of  Isis 
Pharia.(^^^)  They  were  known,  however,  outside  Alex- 
andria as  well,  a  stele  was  dedicated  to  them  at 
Soknopaiou    Nesos,(^^i)   and    in  the 

Fayum  papyri  there  occurs  an  oath  //* 
in  their  name.(^^-)  *Vfe^ 

23.  The  identification  of  Herakles 
with  Harpokrates,  one  of  the  specially 
Alexandrian  deities,  through  the  form 
of  Haroeris,  the  elder  Horus,  pre- 
vented ^his  appearing  to  any  extent  fig.  ii2.-Herakles: 
in  the  Greek  theology  of  Egypt,  as  in  Coin  of  Trajan, 
this  case  the  local  god  overshadowed  (Bodleian.) 

the  imported  one.    With  one  exception,  in  the  time  of 


I40 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


Trajan,  it  was  not  until  the  reig^n  of  Maximianus  that 
Herakles  as  a  simple  type  was  represented  on  the 
Alexandrian  coins, the  groups  of  the  labours  of 
Herakles  on  the  larg-e  bronze  series  of  Antoninus 
being-  pictorial  rather  than  religious  ;  and  on  the  coins 
of  Maximianus  his  appearance  is,  of  course,  due  to  the 
special  fancy  of  the  emperor. 

24.  Asklepios  and  Hygieia  were  deities  of  consider- 
able importance  in  the  Alexandrian  system,  and  an 
interesting  inscription,  relating  to  the  restoration  of 
their  temple  at  Ptolemais  Hermiou  in  the  reign  of 


Fig.  113. — Asklepios  :  Coin  oi  Fig.  114. — Hygieia  :  Coin  of 

Severus  Alexander.  (British  Severus  Alexander,  (British 

Museum. )  Museum. ) 

Trajan,  is  preserved.^''''')  Their  figures  are  frequently 
found  on  coins. 

25.  The  distinctively  Alexandrian  triad  of  Sarapis, 
Isis,  and  Harpokrates  stands  by  itself  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Grfeco-Egyptian  religion,  and  presents  the 
most  complete  instance  of  the  fusion  of  the  two  theolo- 
gies. It  was  in  accordance  with  the  Egyptian  custom 
that  the  triad  was  appropriated  to 
the  Greek  city  as  its  foundation,  and 
all  three  of  the  deities  w^ere  originally 
Egyptian.  But  the  leading  member 
of  the  triad  was  practically  unknown, 
a  mere  local  form  of  Osiris-Apis, 
whose  temple  happened  to  stand  on 
fG.. IIS- -Sarapis:  ^j^^  ^j^^  Alexandria,(457)  until  he 
Com   of   Hadrian.  ^       ,    •  n 

(Bodleian.)  was  brought  under  Greek  intiuence. 


SARAPIS 


141 


Then  there  was  built  up,  out  of  sources  partly  Greek 
and  partly  Eg-yptian,  the  conception  of  a  god  whose 
popularity  quickly  outstripped  that  of  any  other  deity, 
local  or  foreign,  in  Egypt,  and  spread  even  to  Rome. 
The  new  deity  had 
none  of  the  attributes 
of  the  bull  Apis  ;  but, 
in  virtue  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  lower 
world,  as  an  Osirian, 
he  was  identified  with 
the  Greek  Hades  ;  and 
a  statue  of  Hades  by 
Bryaxis  was  imported 
under  Ptolemy  I .  or  H . , 
and  adopted  as  the 
type  of  Sarapis.  ^"^^^^ 
This  statue  was  placed 
in  the  great  temple  of  Sarapis  at  Alexandria,  and  is 
represented  therein  on  the  Alexandrian  coins. (^^^^  The 
Sarapeion  of  Alexandria,  as  the  temple  of  the  chief 
g'od  of  the  capital  city,  became  in  a  way  the  special 
government  temple  ;  and  in  this  connection  it  was  used 


Fig.  116. — Head  of  SarapiS.    (I'laque  in 
Petrie  Collection. ) 


Fig.  117. — Temple  of  Sarapis: 
Coin  of  M.  Aurelius.  (Brit- 
ish Museum.) 


Fig.  118. — Sarapeion  and 
Hadrianon.  (British 
Museum.) 


to  house  the  great  public  library  of  Alexandria.  An 
adjunct  to  the  temple  known  as  the  Hadrianon,  was 
apparently  built  by  Hadrian,  on  whose  coins  it  is 
shown  and  this  may  perhaps  be  identified  with 


142 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


Fig.  119. — Sarapis  : 
Coin  of  Hadrian. 
(British  Museum.) 


the  library  of  Hadrian,  to  which  an  edict  of  the  prefect 
Flavius  Titianus  refers  as  newly  erected  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  State  archives. (^^^^  A 
temple  of  Sarapis  is  also  mentioned 
in  this  period  as  existing  at  Oxy- 
;/  ^ ./'^      ^     rhynchos  ;  ^^'^-^  a  pylon  was  dedicated 
%  ^1  i     to  Sarapis  and  Isis  at  Kysis  in  the 

Great  Oasis  under  Trajan  ;  a 
temple  was  built  to  them  at  Senskis 
under  Gallienus  ;  ^^^^^  and  numerous 
evidences  of  Sarapis-worship,  in  the 
form  of  prayers  addressed  to  him 
and  references  to  his  neokoroi,  are 
found  in  the  Fayum  papyri. ^^'^^^  The  extent  to  which, 
in  the  last-named  district,  the  worship  of  Sarapis  had 
supplanted  that  of  the  local  gfods — Soknopaios  and 

Sokonpieios  —  may  per- 
haps be  judged  from  the 
fact  that,  in  the  papyri, 
ten  prayers  addressed 
to  Sarapis  are  found,  as 
against  two  to  the  local 
gods.  ^^^^^  And  when 
Christianity  became  the 
ruling  religion  in  Egypt, 
the  temples  of  Sarapis 
at  Alexandria  and  of 
Isis  at  Philae  were  the 
last  strongholds  of  the 
older  faith. 

26.  Isis,  the  consort 
of  Sarapis,  never  under- 
went the  same  process 
of  Hellenisation,  but 
always  remained  one  of 
the  most  purely  Egyp- 
tian deities.  There  is 
a  curious  contrast  be- 
FiG.  I20.-IS1S  and  Sarapis.  ^ween  the  development 
(Vatican  Museum.)  of  Alexandrian  concep- 


ISIS 


tions  of  these  two  closely  linked  g-ods.  Sarapis  lost 
practically  all  his  original  Egyptian  attributes,  and  was 
worshipped  in  Greek  forms,  by  Greek  ideas  ;  while  a 
tendency  was  shown  to  unite 
him  with  Zeus  and  Helios  in 
a  single  personality,  as  Osiris 
had  been  united  with  Ra.  Isis, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  always 
represented  by  statues  of  Eg-yp- 
tian  type,  and  her  temple,  as 
shown  on  /\lexandrian  coins,  is 
Egyptian  ;  (-^^'^  and,  instead  of 
becoming  identified  with  other 
deities,  she  w^as  more  frequently 
localised  with  some  distinctive 
epithet.  Thus,  at  Alexandria, 
she  was  worshipped  as  Isis  Pharia,^^^^)  Isis  Plousia,^*^^^) 
Isis  Sothis,(^'o)  and  Isis  of  Menuthis  ;  (-^^i)  at  Mons 
Porphyrites  an  altar  was  found,  dedicated  to  Isis 
Myrionymos  ;  ^'^'^-^  Isis  Nanaia  was  one  of  the  deities 
of  Nabana  in  the  Fayum,^"*''^)  and  it  was  probably  to 


Fig.  121.— Temple  of  Isis  : 
Coin  of  Trajan.  (British 
Museum.) 


Fig.  122. — Isis  Pharia  :  Coin 
of  Antoninus  Pius.  (British 
Museum.) 


Fig.  123. — IsisSothis:  Coin 
of  Faustina  H.  (British 
Museum. ) 


her  that  the  Nanaion  at  Alexandria  was  dedicated  ;  ^-^'^^ 
Isis  Nepherses  and  Isis  Nephremmis  were  associated 
with'  Soknopaios  at  Soknopaiou  Nesos^^"-^),  and  were 
also  worshipped  at  Nilopolis  ;  (^^"^^  and  at  Hiera  Syka- 
minos    she    is    addressed   as    Rhodosternos.^^")  In 


144 


RELIGIOUS  IXSTITUTIOXS 


addition  to  these,  she  is  associated  with  Sarapis  in 
dedications  at  Kysis  and  Senskis,  as  already  men- 
tioned ;  a  propylon  at  Tentyra  was  erected  to 
her  under  Augustus  ;  (^"''^  and  stel«  dedicated  to  her 


Fig.  124, — Isis  :  Coin  of  Fig.  125. — Isis  suckling 

Nerva.    (Bodleian.)  Horus :  Coin  of  M. 

Aurelius.   ( Bodleian. ) 


have  been  found  at  Apollinopolis  Parva,  w^here  there 
was  a  hereditary  prostates  of  Isis,  and  at  Pathyra.(^^^> 
There  was  also  a  temple  of  Isis  at  Oxyrhynchos/^^i) 
The  great  centre  of  Isis-worship,  however,  was  at 
Philae,  where  inscriptions  of  homage  continued  to  be 


Fig.  120. — Bronze  -Sislrum  :  at  Xaples. 
(Photo,  by  W.  M.  F.  Petrie.) 


HARPOKRATES 


145 


written  down  to  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century/^^2) 
though  the  persistence  of  the  old  pagfanism  here  was 
probably  due  in  part  to  political  motives  ;  as  the 
Nobatae,  whose  territory  extended  up  to  the  Roman 
frontier,  were  worshippers  of  Isis,  and  resorted  yearly 
to  Philas  to  borrow  the  temple  statue  for  a  brief  space 
of  time :  and  thus  the  temple  of  Isis  might  be  able,  by 
its  sanctity,  to  protect  Philae,  if  not  the  whole  Roman 
frontier,  against  the  raids  of  the  Nobat^/^^^) 

27.  The  worship  of  Harpokrates,  who,  as  Har-pa- 
khruti,  or  Horus  the  infant,  was  the  remaining  member  of 
the  Alexandrian  triad,  shows  a  development  more  nearly 
resembling  that  of  Isis  than  that  of  Sarapis.  Like  Isis, 
he  remained  Egyptian,  and  was  localised  elsewhere 
than  Alexandria  ;  but  this  localisation  was  apparently 
accomplished  by  a  certain  variation  of  type,  to  judge 


Fig.  127. — Horus  as  a  child  in  Fig.  128. — Harpokrates:  Coin 

military  dress.     (Terra-colta  in  of  Trajan.  (British  Museum. ) 

Petrie  Collection.) 


by  the  representations  on  the  Alexandrian  coins.  At 
Alexandria  itself,  Harpokrates  was  worshipped  as  a 
child ;  at  Herakleopolis  Magna,  he  was  identified, 
through  the  form  of  Haroeris  (the  elder  Horus),  w^ith 
Heracles  ;  at  Mendes,  he  appears  as  a  bearded  man, 
V — 10 


146 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


with  the  local  ram's  horn  ;  at  Pelusium,  his  distinguish- 
ingf  attribute  is  a  pomegranate  ;  at  Canopus,  he  is 
represented  with  the  body  of  a  crocodile  from  the  waist 
downwards  ;  at  Taua  and  Buto,  his  type  is  the  Egyp- 
tian one  of  a  youth  sitting  on  a  lotus  flower. Apart 
from  the  coin  types,  official  recognition  of  Harpokrates 
is  rare :  the  base  of  a  statue  of  him  w^as  found  at  Alex- 
andria/"'^'^'') and  he  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
temples  of  Soknopaios  at  Soknopaiou  Nesos/^^'^^  and  of 
Zeus  Kapitolios  at  Arsinoe/^^")  and  associated  with  Isis 
in  the  stele  from  Apollinopolis  Parva  ;  he  also 
appears  among  the  gods  of  Nabana  in  the  Fayum.(^^^) 
But  that  the  worship  of  Harpokrates  or  Horus  was 
popular  among  the  common  people  throughout  Egypt, 
is  shown  by  the  multitudes  of  terra -cotta  figures, 
usually  of  poor  workmanship  and  evidently  intended  to 
suit  the  wants  of  the  lower  classes,  which  are  found. (^^^) 
And  he  appears,  with  Sarapis  and  Isis,  in  the  types  of 
the  Roman  coinage  under  Julian,  when  the  revived 
paganism  sought  its  inspiration  mainly  from  Egypt. 


Fig.  129. — Osiris  with  stars:  from  Koptos.    (Photo,  by  \V.  M.  F.  Petrie.) 


OSIRIS  AND  HERMANUBIS 


147 


28.  Osiris,  in  Alexandria  at  any  rate,  was  completely 
overshadowed  by  Sarapis.  In  the  Roman  period  there 
is  no  mention  of  him  in  papyri  or  inscriptions  ;  nor 
does  he  appear  on  coins,  except  in  the  peculiar  type 
of  the  Canopic  vases  with  a  human  head,  some  of 
which  represent  him  wearing"  the  atef  crown, (^^i)  and 
others  with  a  crown  of  rams'  horns,  uraei,  disk,  and 
plumes/^^-)  At  Koptos,  however,  where  he  was  wor- 
shipped as  Min,  dedications  to  him  are  found  down  to 
the  time  of  Nero.(^^^) 

29.  Hermanubis  was  as  distinctively  Alexandrian  a 
deity  as  Sarapis.  His  name,  like  that  of  Sarapis,  was 
borrowed  from  the  older  Egyptian  mytholog-y,  which 
had  a  compound  of  Horus  and  Anubis,  or  Har-m-Anup  ; 


and,  as  Sarapis  for  the  Greek  included  the  attributes 
of  Hades,  so  did  Hermanubis  those  of  Hermes. A 
temple  of  Hermanubis,  presumably  at  Alexandria,  is 
represented  on  coins  of  Antoninus  Pius.^^^^) 

30.  There  was  also  an  interesting"  development  of 
Nile-worship  at  Alexandria,  where  the  river-god  was 
to  a  certain  extent  assimilated  with  Sarapis. ^■'^'^^  His 
temple,  with  the  statue  inside  it  seated  on  rocks, 
appears  on  a  coin  of  Hadrian  and  either  his  bust, 
or  his  figure  reclining  on  a  hippopotamus  or  a  crocodile, 
with  small  figures  up  to  the  number  of  sixteen,  repre- 
senting the  cubits  of  the  flood-rise,  is  commonly  found 
as  a  type/^^^)    As  the  consort  of  Nilus,  Euthenia  was 


Fig.  130. — Heimanubis  :  Coin 
of  Hadrian.  (British  Museum. ) 


Fig.  131. — Temple  of  Her- 
manubis :  Coin  of  Antoninus 
Pius.    (British  Museum,  j 


148 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


broug"ht  into  the  rank  of  the  gods,  and  appears  on  the 
coins  either  alone  ("^^^^  or  with  her  husband. ^-^o^) 


Fig.  134. — Xilus  :  Coin  of  Fig.  135. — Euthenia  ; 

Trajan.    (British  Museum.)  Goin  -  of  Livia. 

(British  Museum.) 


31.  The  Roman  conquerors  of  Egypt  did  not  add 
many  fresh  religious  ideas  to  those  they  found  already 
existing  in  the  country.  Perhaps  the  only  distinctively 
Roman  worship  known  was  that  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus, 
to  whom  a  temple  was  dedicated  at  Arsinoe.  There  is 
preserved  a  fairly  long  record  of  the  procedure  at  this 
temple  in  the  reign  of  Caracalla,  which  shows  it  to 
have  been  mainly  a  centre  for  the  worship  of  the 
imperial  family  in  general  and  the  reigning  emperor  in 
particular. (^01)  The  festivals  recorded  to  have  been 
celebrated  there  during  a  period  of  three  months  are  : 
two  in  honour  of  the  deified  Severus,  one  to  celebrate 


EMPEROR-WORSHIP 


149 


the  proclamation  of  Julia  Domna  as  mother  of  the 
armies,  and  seven  variously  relating*  to  Caracalla ; 
together  with  a  feast  to  commemorate  the  birthday  of 
Rome.  A  Capitolium,  which  may  have  been  a  temple 
of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  also  existed  at  Oxyrhynchos.^^*^-) 

32.  The  worship  of  the  emperors  was  more  Egyptian 
than  Roman.  From  time  immemorial  the  rulers  of 
Egypt  had  occupied  a  semi-divine  position  in  the  minds 
of  their  subjects  ;  and  an  emperor  who  was  far  away 
at  Rome  would  be  even  more  an  object  of  mysterious 
awe  than  one  who  might  be  seen  from  time  to  timiC 
by  his  people.  Consequently,  though  Augustus  and 
Tiberius  discouraged  the  desire  to  deify  them  in  their 
lifetime,  Caligula  had  no  sooner  expressed  his  designs 
on  godhead  than  the  Alexandrians  wholeheartedly  fell 
in  with  his  wishes,  and  worshipped  him.  So,  also, 
when  Vespasian  visited  Alexandria,  immediately  after 
his  proclamation,  the  people  expected  him  to  work 
miracles  of  healing. ('^3)  Augustus  himself  is  named 
Zeus  Eleutherios  on  the  propylon  of  the  temple  of  Isis  at 
Tentyra,^^^^)  and  on  an  inscription  from  Arsinoe  ;  ^''^-'^  and 
a  decree  of  the  inhabitants  of  Busiris  and  the  Letopolite 
nome  addresses  Nero  as  the  Agathos  Daimon  of  the 
world. An  inscription  of  the  reign  of  Caracalla 
shows  that,  in  addition  to  priests  of  "the  emperors," 
presumably  Severus  and  Caracalla,  there  were  at  Alex- 
andria priests  of  Trajan  and  Antoninus  Pius,  and  of  the 
Hadrianeion,  which  was  probably  devoted  to  the  worship 
of  Hadrian. ^^^^''^  There  was  also  a  Hadrianeion  at 
Memphis,  and  a  Caesareum  is  mentioned  in  an  Oxy- 
rhynchan  papyrus. ^^^^^ 

33.  The  Roman  government  exercised  a  kind  of 
general  supervision  over  the  religious  affairs  of  Egypt 
through  the  "  high  priest  of  Alexandria  and  all  Egypt," 
who  was  a  Roman  probably  appointed  directly  by  the 
emperor.(^09)  He  had  not  only  the  supreme  authority 
over  the  priests  of  the  whole  of  the  province, ^^^^^  but 
was  also  charged  with  the  control  of  the  treasures  of 
the  temples. 

34.  There  is  no  direct  evidence  how  far  the  worship 


I50  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


of  the  Fortune  of  the  city  of  Alexandria  persisted  in 
Roman  times  ;  though  the  Tycheion  is  represented  on 


B''iG.  136. — Temple  of  Tyche  :  Fig.  137.— Tyche:  Coin  of 

Coin  of  Antoninus   Pius.  Hadrian.  (Britisli Museum.) 

(British  Museum.) 


Fig.  138.— Tyche  of  Alex-  Fig.    139.  —  Alex- 

andria: Coin  of  Antoninus  andria:  Coin  of 

Pius.  '  (British  Museum.)  Hadrian.  (British 

Museum). 


Fig.   140.— Roma:    Coin  of  Fig.  141.— Roma : Coin 

Antoninus    Pius.      (British  of  Antoninus  Pius. 

Museum.)  (Bodleian.) 


THE  JEWS 


coins,  and  Tyche  is  a  favourite  type  ;  one  interesting- 
variety  gives  the  Tyche  of  Alexandria.  The  types 
of  Alexandria  and  Rome  probably  have  no  religious 
meaning. 

35.  As  has  already  been  remarked,  the  Jews,  who 
formed  an  important  section  of  the  community,  especi- 
ally in  Alexandria,  stood  wholly  apart  in  religious 
matters  from  Egyptians,  Romans,  and  Greeks.  There 
was,  however,  one  development  of  Jewish  ideas  which 
was  peculiar  to  Egypt,  in  the  sect  of  the  Therapeutai, 
described  by  Philo.^^'i-^  This  sect  existed  in  a  settle- 
ment near  Lake  Mareotis,  where  they  lived  a  monastic 
life,  devoted  wholly  to  study  and  meditation.  Both 
men  and  women  were  admitted  to  the  community,  and 
each  member  had  a  separate  cell,  where  he  remained 
alone  for  six  days  out  of  the  week,  only  meeting  his 
fellows  in  the  synagogue  on  the  seventh  day  and  in  a 
festival  held  every  fiftieth  day.  This  contemplative 
life  was  not  unknown  in  Egypt  among  the  followers  of 
the  old  national  religion,  who  had  perhaps  been  first 
induced  to  it  by  Buddhist  missionaries  from  India  ;  but 
the  fact  that  the  Jews,  who  were  most  unlikely  to  have 
consciously  borrowed  any  ideas  from  a  foreign  creed, 
were  found  adopting  the  same  eremitic  seclusion, 
suggests  that  the  habit  was  at  any  rate  encouraged 
by  the  physical  character  of  the  country.  In  Egypt, 
the  desert  is  always  close  at  hand  for  those  who  wish 
to  retire  from  the  world  ;  and  it  exercises  a  peculiar 
fascination,  easier  to  feel  than  to  describe,  over  minds 
which  have  risen  to  a  higher  religion  than  mere  fetich- 
ism,  tempting  those  who  enter  it  to  stay  and  think 
their  lives  away.  The  same  religious  tendency  was 
shortly  afterwards  displayed  to  a  wider  extent  in  the 
Christian  Church,  and,  borrowed  by  it  from  Egypt, 
spread  throughout  Europe. 

36.  The  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Egypt  is 
reported  to  have  taken  place  in  the  reign  of  Nero, 
when  the  Apostle  Mark  visited  Alexandria.  (^^^^  No 
records  of  the  earliest  years  of  the  Alexandrian  Church 
are  preserved,  beyond  the  list  of  bishops,  but  it  rapidly 


152 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


assumed  a  place  among  the  philosophical  sects  of  the 
city,  influencing'  them  and  in  return  receiving  influence  ; 
and,  as  Alexandria  was  the  home  of  more  schools  of 
thought  than  any  other  place  in  the  Roman  world, 
so  Christianity  there  not  unnaturally  developed  an 
unusually  large  number  of  peculiar  ideas.  The  earliest 
Egyptian  heresy  was  Gnostic,  founded  by  Basilides  of 
Alexandria  in  the  time  of  Hadrian  ;  ^'^^^^  which  mainly 
consisted  in  an  attempt  to  blend  Christianity  and  the 
old  Egyptian  magic  ;  and  the  Christian  Gnosticism  was 
further  extended  by  other  Alexandrian  philosophers. 

37.  The  first  appointments  of  Christian  bishops  in 
Egypt  outside  Alexandria  were  made  in  the  reign  of 
Aurelius,  when  Demetrius,  patriarch  of  Alexandria, 
nominated  three  ;  (-^^^^  and  shortly  afterwards  the  cate- 
chetical school  of  Alexandria  was  founded  by  Pantaenus 
for  the  training  of  Christian  students. The  growing 
importance  of  the  Christians  was  marked  in  the  reign 
of  Severus  by  the  first  organised  persecution  in 
Egypt. (•''^1'')  This,  however,  did  not  check  the  spread  of 
the  religion  ;  and  about  thirty  years  later  it  was  found 
advisable  to  increase  the  number  of  Egyptian  bishops 
from  three  to  twenty.^^^^)  Fresh  persecutions  were 
ordered  by  Decius  and  Valerian;  but  Gallienus,  who 
had  quite  enough  political  difficulties  to  face  in  Egypt 
without  complicating  them  by  religious  ones,  stopped 
the  persecution  and  granted  liberty  of  religion  to  the 
Christians. (51^^) 

38.  This  edict  of  toleration  enabled  the  Christians 
to  build  themselves  churches  ;  and  the  small  church 
of  Al  Mu'allakah  at  Old  Cairo  may  be  dated  to  very 
shortly  after  this  period. In  a  papyrus  from  Oxy- 
rhynchos  of  about  300  A.D.,  reference  is  made  to  the 
north  and  south  churches, (^-^^  and  doubtless  most 
other  large  towns  were  similarly  provided.  But  these 
churches  were  all  ordered  to  be  destroyed,  and  the 
Christians  to  be  forced  to  change  their  belief,  by 
Diocletian  ;  and  for  some  years  the  persecution  con- 
tinued.(^^-"-^ 

39.  The    "conversion"    of  Constantine,  however, 


GROWTH  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


153 


brought  Christianity  into  power  ;  and  for  the  next 
two  centuries  the  Christians  were  constantly  active, 
except  during  the  brief  reign  of  JuHan,  in  trying  to 
root  out  the  pagans  ;  and  they  pursued  their  work  as 
relentlessly  as  the  ministers  of  the  old  religion  had 
tried  to  suppress  Christianity.  Perhaps  the  most 
notorious  instance  of  the  ruthlessness  of  the  monks 
was  the  murder  of  Hypatia  at  Alexandria,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  patriarch  Cyril. But  every  bishop, 
and  every  abbot,  apparently  thought  himself  at  liberty 
to  do  as  he  liked  with  pagans  and  their  property.  Thus 
Macarius,  bishop  of  Tkoou,  and  his  companions  made  a 
raid  on  a  village,  and  burnt  not  only  a  temple  and 
three  hundred  and  six  idols,  but  also  the  high  priest. (^-'') 
The  life  of  Schnoudi  represents  him  as  similarly  engaged 
in  attacking  villages  near  Panopolis,  and  even  Panopolis 
itself,  and  burning  houses  and  temples  for  the  glory  of 
God  ;  so  that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
people  of  Panopolis  made  complaint  of  him  to  the 
govern  or.  (^-'^) 

40.  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  position  the  govern- 
ment intended  to  take  up  with  regard  to  paganism. 
Apparently  it  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  each  local 
official  whether  he  interfered  in  the  religious  disputes 
of  his  districts  ;  and  the  average  official  would  probably 
be  satisfied  if  the  peace  was  not  too  flagrantly  broken. 
Here  and  there  a  zealous  Christian  governor  might 
assist  the  local  ecclesiastics  in  their  holy  war,  as 
Cynegius  helped  Theophilus,  the  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
to  destroy  the  Sarapeum  ;  or  a  confirmed  pagan 
might  try  to  check  the  work  of  destruction,  as  a 
governor  of  Antinoe  summoned  Schnoudi  before  him  ; 
but  such  interference  of  the  civil  power  would  be  an 
exception.  That  the  central  government  was  not  un- 
willing to  use  the  old  gods  for  diplomatic  purposes,  is 
shown  by  the  treaty  of  Maximinus  with  the  Nobatae  in 
the  reign  of  Marcian,  one  of  the  conditions  of  which 
was  a  yearly  loan  of  the  statue  of  Isis  at  Philae  to  the 
barbarians. 

41.  The  political  importance  of  the  divisions  in  the 


154 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


Christian  C'hurches  of  Kgypt  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
Egypt  was  the  birthphice  of  the  Arian  heresy,  which 
provided  the  first  pretext  for  a  definite  breach  between 
the  Eastern  and  Western  divisions  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  in  the  dispute  between  Constans  and  Con- 
stantius  over  the  banishment  of  Athanasius  by  the 
latter ;  and  the  religious  diff"erence  thus  begun  was 
thereafter,  under  varied  forms,  continued  as  the  most 
marked  outward  sign  in  all  the  quarrels  which  led  to 
the  final  severance  of  Rome  and  Constantinople.  The 
growth  of  the  antagonism  between  the  imperial  patri- 
archate of  Alexandria  (which  represented  the  official 
creed  of  Constantinople)  and  the  native  Jacobite  Church 
has  already  been  traced.  Its  results  were,  first,  the 
union  of  the  civil  and  religious  power  in  the*persons 
of  the  prefect- patriarch,  of  Justinian,  ApoUinarius, 
and  his  successors,  who  furnished  a  precedent  for  the 
temporal  dominion  of  the  Popes  in  the  INIiddle  Ages  ; 
and,  secondly,  the  subsequent  dissensions  which  opened 
Egypt  successively  to  the  Persians  and  Arabs,  and  lost 
it  to  the  Roman  Empire. 

42.  The  special  existence  of  these  divisions  in  Egyp- 
tian Christianity  may  be  traced  to  the  mixture  of  races 
in  the  country.  The  Greek  ruling  class  had  never 
amalgamated  with  their  Egyptian  subjects  ;  and  it 
was  natural  that  each  section  should  follow  its  own 
religious  ideas.  So  long  as  the  gods  in  question  were 
pagan  deities,  whose  accommodating  attributes  allowed 
them  to  be  identified  at  the  will  of  their  worshippers 
with  one  another,  no  serious  difficulties  arose ;  the 
Greek  and  the  Egyptian  could  worship  each  his  own 
god  in  the  same  temple,  and  the  priest  was  equally 
satisfied.  But  when  the  leaders  of  the  Christian  Church, 
partly,  no  doubt,  from  a  desire  to  mark  their  separation 
from  such  loose  theology,  sought  to  enforce  a  cast-iron 
orthodoxy,  set  forth  in  creeds,  each  word  of  which  must 
be  literally  believed  on  pain  of  everlasting  damnation, 
the  innate  differences  of  the  Greek  and  Egyptian  mind 
began  to  be  manifested.  The  philosophical  subtleties 
of  the  Alexandrian  school  were  quite  unsuited  to  the 


INFLUENCES  ON  CHRISTIANITY 


155 


comprehension  of  the  fellah  ;  and,  consequently,  in 
the  Arian  and  Monophysite  controversies,  the  native 
Egyptian  Church  on  each  occasion  held  to  the  simpler 
form  of  belief. 

43.  The  Christian  Church  in  Egypt,  however,  was 
not  uninfluenced  by  the  older  relig-ion  of  the  country. 
The  importance  of  the  Platonists  of  Alexandria  in  the 
early  development  of  Christianity,  particularly  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Logos,  is  well  known.  A  more  strik- 
ing example  of  the  debt  of  Christianity  to  paganism 
may  be  found  in  the  worship  of  Mary  as  the  mother 
of  Jesus,  the  idea  of  which  was  probably,  as  the  artistic 
representations  were  certainly,  borrowed  from  the 
Egyptian  conception  of  Isis  with  her  child  Horus.^^^^) 
And  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  development  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  which  formed  no  part  of  the 
original  Jewish  Christianity,  may  be  traced  to  Egyptian 
influence  ;  as  the  whole  of  the  older  Egyptian  theology 
was  permeated  with  the  idea  of  triple  divinity,  as  seen 
both  in  the  triads  of  gods  which  the  various  cities  wor- 
shipped, and  in  the  threefold  names,  representing  three 
diff'ering  aspects  of  the  same  personality,  under  which 
each  god  might  be  addressed. 

44.  But  the  most  important  contribution  of  Egypt  to 
the  life  of  the  Christian  Churches  was  the  habit  of 
monasticism.  This  has  already  been  noticed  in  con- 
nection with  the  Jewish  sect  of  the  Therapeutai  ;  and 
the  custom  of  withdrawing  from  the  world,  for  medita- 
tion in  the  solitude  of  the  desert,  was  adopted  also  by 
the  Christians.  The  earliest  Christian  hermits  mentioned 
lived  about  the  time  of  Constantine  ;  and  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  system  spread  may  be  judged  from  the 
fact  that  half  a  century  later,  in  the  reign  of  Valens, 
the  monasteries  were  not  only  well  established  and 
recognised  by  law  as  bodies  competent  to  hold  pro- 
perty,(^^^^  but  were  so  popular  as  to  present  a  serious 
difficulty  to  the  government,  on  account  of  the  number 
of  men  who  claimed  exemption  from  military  service  or 
liturgies  on  the  ground  of  monastic  vows.^^^^^  A  large 
number  of  the  monasteries  occupied  the  old  temples, 


156 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


or  any  otner  building's,  such  as  towers  or  pylons,  which 
were  at  hand.  Examples  of  such  occupation  were  seen 
by  Rufinus,  about  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  at 
Oxyrhynchos  ;  and  the  manner  in  which  a  military 
building-  could  be  adapted  for  monastic  purposes  may 
be  seen  in  the  Roman  fortress  of  Babylon. (^^2)  The 
desert  monasteries  were  probably  in  most  instances 
collections  of  separate  cells,  related  onlv  bv  their  nelgh- 


FiG.  142. — The  White  Monastery  :  Old  nave  of  church,  now  the 
courtyard.    (Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


MONASTICISM 


^57 


bourhood;  but  a  few  instances  of  convents  were  already 
to  be  found  in  the  time  of  Rufinus,  the  largest  being  at 
Tabenna,  which  held  three  thousand  monks.  As  the 
weakness  of  the  central  government  increased,  it  be- 
came necessary  for  the  monks  to  provide  for  their  own 
safety  against  the  desert  tribes,  who  from  time  to  time 
raided  the  country  ;  and  so  the  fortress  type  of  monas- 
tery, the  earliest   example  of  which  perhaps  is  the 


Fig.  143.- — The  White  Monastery  :  Wallcd-in  tokimns  of  nave. 
(Photo,  by  J.  G.  M.) 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS 


White  Monastery,  became  common.  This  building' 
may  be  dated  to  about  the  reign  of  Constantius,  and 
presents  outwardly  a  huge  expanse  of  blank  wall, 
broken  only  by  windows  high  up,  and  by  two  small 
entrances  which  could  easily  be  blocked.  Such  a 
monastery  could  stand  a  long  siege  against  marauders, 
if  sufficiently  provisioned  ;  and  the  extent  of  provision 
kept  may  be  judged  from  the  account  in  the  Life  of 
Schnoudi,  of  how  his  monastery  maintained  for  three 
months  twenty  thousand  men,  as  well  as  women  and 
children,  who  had  been  rescued  from  the  Blemmyes.^''^-^) 
The  district  round  had  just  been  raided,  and  it  is  not 
probable  that  any  large  supplies  could  have  been  drawn 
thence ;  so  that  it  must  be  supposed  that  the  eighty-five 
thousand  artabai  of  wheat,  as  well  as  the  numerous 
other  articles  of  food,  with  which  the  monks  supplied 
their  guests,  must  have  been  stored  in  the  monastery. 
The  military  use  of  these  Egyptian  monasteries  was, 
however,  only  a  secondary  one  ;  but  Justinian  borrow-ed 
from  them,  doubtless,  his  idea  when  he  erected  a  monas- 
tery to  g"uard  the  passes  under  Mount  Sinai  against 
attacks  from  Northern  Arabia. (^'"^^  In  other  countries, 
which  were  not  exposed,  like  Egypt,  to  sudden  raids 
from  the  desert,  there  was  not  the  same  incentive  to 
conventual  life  ;  but  nevertheless  it  was  this  system, 
rather  than  the  eremitic,  w  hich  finally  spread  through- 
out Europe,  and  moulded  the  ideas  of  the  Christian 
Church  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


CHAPTER  X 


Life  in  the  Towns  and  Villages  of  Egypt 

1.  The  recent  discoveries  of  papyri  have  thrown  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  light  on  the  life  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Eg-ypt  during  the  period  of  Roman  rule  ;  and  some 
points  in  particular  may  be  noticed  as  of  special  interest. 
The  most  complete  view  of  town  life  will  doubtless  be 
given  by  the  Oxyrhynchos  papyri,  when  they  are  all  pub- 
lished ;  but  even  those  which  have  already  appeared, 
forming  a  comparatively  small  part  of  the  whole  mass, 
furnish  an  extremely  interesting  picture. 

2.  The  public  buildings  of  the  town  of  Oxyrhynchos 
are  catalogued,  in  a  list  of  the  watchmen  who  were  dis- 
tributed over  the  town  at  some  date  early  in  the  third 
century. (^25)  There  are  found  there  temples  of  Sarapis, 
Isis,  and  Thoeris  (the  special  deity  of  the  town),  which 
all  had  special  watchmen  assigned  to  them,  six  being 
placed  in  the  temple  of  Sarapis,  one  in  that  of  Isis,  and 
seven  in  that  of  Thoeris,  from  which  the  relative  sizes 
and  importance  of  the  temples  may  perhaps  be  con- 
jectured. There  was  also  a  Caesareum,  which  had  no 
watchman  ;  and  a  tetrastyle  dedicated  to  Thoeris  is 
mentioned.  Two  churches,  the  north  and  the  south, 
come  in  the  list  ;  but  these  were  not  at  the  date  re- 
garded as  public  buildings,  and  only  appear  as  giving 
their  names  to  streets.  Three  watchmen  were  assigned 
to  the  theatre,  two  to  the  gymnasium,  and  one  to  the 
Nilometer.  Besides  these  buildings,  there  is  mention 
made  of  the  Capitolium,  of  three  sets  of  baths  and  of 
four  gates. 


i6o    LIFE  IN  THE  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES  OF  EGYPT 


3.  This  list  of  building's  can  be  taken  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  usual  condition  of  an  Egyptian  town  of 
the  period.  It  shows  that,  in  the  relig"ious  life,  the 
special  local  worship  and  that  of  Sarapis  and  Isis  were 
still  those  recog-nised  by  the  authorities  ;  but  that  the 
Christians  had  made  their  appearance  as  an  organised 
body,  and  were  at  any  rate  not  ignored.  The  Caesareum 
and  the  Capitolium  marked  the  Roman  supremacy  ;  and 
the  baths,  the  gymnasium,  and  the  theatre  supplied  the 
needs  which  had  been  introduced  into  Egyptian  life  by 
the  Greeks. 

4.  At  Oxyrhynchos  the  gymnasium  and  its  sports 
appear  to  have  assumed  considerable  importance.  The 
following  proclamation,  dated  in  323,  shows  the  popular 
feeling  with  regard  to  them  :  — 

Dioscorides,  logistes  of  the  Oxyrhynchite  nome. 
The  assault  at  arms  by  the  youths  will  take  place  to- 
morrow, the  24th.  Tradition,  no  less  than  the  dis- 
tinguished character  of  the  festival,  requires  that  they 
should  do  their  utmost  in  the  gymnastic  display.  The 
spectators  will  be  present  at  two  performances." 

The  privileges  which  were  granted  to  a  victor  in  the 
games  appears  from  another  papyrus  containing  a  copy 
of  a  letter  sent  in  292  by  the  senate  of  Oxyrhynchos  to 
the  strategos,  the  message  of  which  is — 

At  a  meeting  of  our  body  a  despatch  was  read  from 
Theodorus,  who  was  recently  chosen  in  place  of  Areion 
the  scribe  to  proceed  to  his  highness  the  praefect  and 
attend  his  immaculate  court.  In  this  despatch  he  ex- 
plained that  he  is  a  victor  in  the  games  and  exempted 
from  inquiries. — We  have  therefore  nominated  Aurelius 
to  serve,  and  we  send  you  word  accordingly,  in  order 
that  this  fact  may  be  brought  to  his  knowledge,  and  no 
time  be  lost  in  his  departure  and  attendance  upon  the 
court.    We  pray  for  your  health,  dearest  brother."  (^^''^ 

5.  In  the  Byzantine  period,  the  gymnasium  at  Oxy- 
rhynchos was  apparently  supplanted  by  the  racecourse. 
In  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  this,  like  most  other 
things  at  Oxyrhynchos,  apparently  belonged  to  Flavins 
Apion  ;  as  a  certain  John,  in  a  document  addressed  to 


AMUSEMENTS  OF  THE  PEOPLE 


i6i 


Apion,  styles  himself  "by  the  help  of  God  contractor 
of  the  racecourse  belonging  to  your  honourable  house, 
and  of  the  stable  belonging  to  your  said  honourable 
house. "^^^^^  The  spectators  at  Oxyrhynchos,  as  else- 
where, divided  themselves  into  the  factions  of  the  Blues 
and  the  Greens  ;  and  each  side  seems  to  have  kept  its 
own  starters,  and  to  have  provided  funds  for  the  main- 
tenance of  its  horses  :  as  receipts  are  preserved,  one 
for  io8|  carats  *'paid  by  the  most  eminent  Georgius 
the  secretary  to  the  two  starters  of  the  horses  on  the 
side  of  the  Blues  as  their  month's  wages," and 
another  for  a  solidus  less  four  carats  "paid  by  the 
most  eminent  Anastasius  the  banker  for  the  cost  of  an 
embrocation  bought  for  the  use  of  the  horses  of  the 
public  circus  on  the  side  of  the  Greens." The 
violence  of  party  spirit  over  the  circus  games  was  in- 
creased by  the  tendency  to  identify  the  two  factions 
with  the  two  sections  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  and  the 
extent  to  which  the  partisans  indulged  their  quarrel  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that,  even  while  the  Romans  were 
shut  up  in  Alexandria  by  'Amr,  there  were  open  battles 
in  the  streets  between  the  Blues,  led  by  Domentianus, 
prefect  of  the  Fayum,  and  the  Greens,  led  by  Menas  the 
dux.(5-^i) 

6.  The  inhabitants  of  the  villages  would  naturally 
ave  to  look  to  the  metropolis  of  the  nome  for  the 
provision  of  most  of  their  amusements  ;  but  a  record  is 
preserved  among  the  Fayum  papyri  showing  that  the 
chief  men  of  the  villages  were  not  unmindful  of  the 
pleasures  of  their  fellows.     It  runs  as  follows  : — 

"To  Aurelius  Theon,  keeper  of  the  training-school, 
from  Aurelius  Asclepiades,  son  of  Philadelphus,  presi- 
dent of  the  council  of  the  village  of  Bacchias.  I  desire 
to  hire  from  you  Tisais  the  dancing  girl  and  another, 
to  dance  for  us  in  the  above  village  for  (fifteen  ?)  days 
from  the  13th  Phaophi  by  the  old  calendar.  You  shall 
receive  as  pay  thirty-six  drachmae  a  day,  and  for  the 
whole  period  three  artabai  of  wheat,  and  fifteen  couples 
of  loaves  ;  also  three  donkeys  to  fetch  them  and  take 
them  back.  "(^4^) 


V— I  I 


i62    LIFE  IX  THE  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES  OF  EGYPT 


7.  Three  brief  letters  from  Oxyrhynchos  are  interest- 
ing", as  showing-  the  existence  of  "  society  "  in  the  town. 
Apparently  the  fashionable  hour  for  dinner-parties  was 
the  ninth,  which  would  be  early  in  the  afternoon  ;  and 
such  dinner-parties  could  be  held  in  one  of  the  temples  ; 
while  the  festivals  of  the  gods  furnished  opportunities 
for  social  displays.    The  invitations  are — 

Chaeremon  requests  your  company  at  dinner,  at  the 
table  of  the  lord  Serapis  in  the  Serapaeum,  to-morrow, 
the  15th,  at  9  o'clock. "(^^3) 

"  Herais  requests  your  company  at  dinner,  in  celebra- 
tion of  the  marriage  of  her  children,  at  her  house  to- 
morrow, the  5th,  at  9  o'clock."  (^^4) 

Greeting,  my  dear  Serenia,  from  Petosiris.  Be 
sure,  dear,  to  come  up  on  the  20th  for  the  birthday 
festival  of  the  god,  and  let  me  know  whether  you  are 
coming  by  boat  or  by  donkey,  in  order  that  we  may 
send  for  you  accordingly.  Take  care  not  to  forget.  I 
pray  for  your  continued  health." 

8.  There  is,  however,  comparatively  little  evidence 
of  luxury  to  be  found  either  in  the  records  of  the  life  of 
Roman  Egypt  preserved  in  the  papyri,  or  in  the  objects 
discovered  in  the  excavation  of  Roman  sites,  Alexandria 
excepted.  At  Bacchias,  the  houses  of  which  were  prob- 
ably as  carefully  investigated  as  any  Roman  town  in 
Egypt,  the  catalogue  of  domestic  articles  found  was 
"  w^ooden  bowls,  platters,  boxes,  writing-tablets,  styles, 
and  reed  pipes  ;  bone  dice,  pins,  and  toilet  implements  ; 
bronze  rings  and  pins  ;  combs,  terra-cotta  figurines, 
memorial  prism-shaped  shrines  in  wood  (one  in  marble 
with  four  painted  figures  in  relief),  and  so  forth." (■^^'^^ 
And  other  Roman  sites  have  produced  similar  results. 

9.  The  artistic  products  of  Roman  Egypt  also  show 
a  low  level  of  style,  which  gives  ground  for  arguing 
that  the  general  standard  of  life  was  likewise  low.  It 
is  true  that  the  painted  portraits  from  the  mummies  of 
the  Fayum  show  a  fair  amount  of  technical  skill ;  (^■^'')  but 
these  are  the  only  objects,  other  than  public  monuments, 
which  deserve  the  name  of  works  of  art.  The  pottery 
and  terra-cottas  of  the  Roman  period  are  coarse, ^^^^^  and 


ART  AND  INDUSTRIES 


163 


the  tombstones  show  an  entire  absence  of  taste. (•'^^^^ 
Even  in  sculptures  executed  for  public  or  semi-public 
purposes,  though  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  mastery 
of  conventional  technique  to  be  found  in  some  of  the 
earlier  stelai/^^^^  there  is  at  the  same  time  much  ex- 
tremely bad  work ;  (^^^^  and  the  style  of  art  rapidly 
deteriorated  in  the  second  century.  Statues  of  Caracalla 
seem  to  have  been  set  up  in  many  places  in  Egypt  at 
the  time  of  his  visit  to  the  country /^^-^  and  those  which 
have  been  discovered  vie  with  each  other  in  ugliness  :  (^^^^ 
in  one  instance  the  artist  could  rise  no  higher  than 
recutting  the  face  of  an  older  statue. (^^^^  The  few 
remains  of  the  work  of  the  later  period  are  thoroughly 
debased.  It  is  interesting  to  find  among  the  Oxyrhyn- 
chos  papyri  a  letter,  dated  in  357,  from  a  logistes  and 
the  strategos  of  the  nome,  requesting  Aurelius  Sineeis, 

in  accordance  with  the  directions  of  the  letter,  to 
construct  a  statue  of  our  lord  the  most  glorious  prefect 
Pomponius  Metrodorus."  ^^^^^  It  would  be  still  more 
interesting  to  know  what  the  statue  was  like  when  it 
was  constructed. 

10.  But  if  the  Egyptians  were  not  luxurious,  they 
were  at  any  rate  industrious.  The  "letter  of  Hadrian 
to  Servianus,"  probably  written  in  the  third  century, 
says  that  in  Alexandria  "no  one  is  idle:  some  work 
glass,  others  make  paper,  others  weave  linen." (^^^^ 
These  three  manufactures  furnished  the  bulk  of  the 
Egyptian  export  trade, (^^''^  if  the  supply  of  corn  to 
Rome,  which  went  rather  by  way  of  tribute  than  of 
trade,  be  left  out  of  consideration  :  Aurelian,  indeed, 
included  them  with  corn  in  the  contributions  to  be  sent 
by  Egypt  to  the  capital. ^-^^^^  Glass  and  paper  were 
manufactured  chiefly  at  Alexandria  ;  but  the  weaving  of 
linen  cloth  was  an  industry  practised  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  ;  and  no  occupation,  save  that  of  husbandman, 
is  as  commonly  mentioned  in  the  papyri  as  that  of 
weaver. To  this  day  excellent  weaving  is  done  in 
small  villages,  which  are  often  renowned  for  special 
fabrics.  The  trades  of  each  nome  were  organised  in 
guilds,  whose  aff'airs  were  managed  by  presidents  elected 


i64    LIFE  IN  THE  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES  OF  EGYPT 


each  month  ;  and  a  series  of  declarations  from 
various  g-uilds  of  Oxyrhynchos — those  of  coppersmiths, 
bakers,  beersellers,  oilsellers,  and  beekeepers — has  been 
found,  in  which  each  guild  states  the  value  of  the  goods 
in  stock  at  the  end  of  the  month.  As  an  example  may- 
be taken  the  declaration  of  the  coppersmiths — 

"To  Flavius  Eusebius,  logistes  of  the  Oxyrhynchite 
nome,  from  the  guild  of  coppersmiths  of  Oxyrhynchos, 
through  me,  Aurelius  Thonius,  son  of  Macer.  We  de- 
clare that  at  our  own  assessment  the  value  given  below 
of  the  goods  we  have  in  stock  is  that  for  the  present 
month,  and  we  swear  the  divine  oath  that  our  state- 
ment is  correct.  The  value  is  as  follows,  of  malleable 
bronze  six  pounds,  worth  looo  denarii,  and  of  cast 
bronze  four  pounds.  In  the  consulship  of  Flavius  Ursus 
and  Flavius  Polemius  the  most  illustrious,  Athyr  30 
(Signed)  I,  Aurelius  Thonius,  make  the  aforesaid  de- 
claration." (-^61) 

These  declarations  serve  to  show  how  close  a  super- 
vision was  exercised  by  the  local  authorities  over  the 
tradesmen  of  their  district  ;  and  another  papyrus  gives 
further  evidence  of  the  restrictions  placed  on  business. 

'  To  Flavius  Thennyras,  logistes  of  the  Oxyrhynchite 
nome,  from  Aurelius  Nilus,  son  of  Didymus,  of  the 
illustrious  and  most  illustrious  city  of  Oxyrhynchos,  an 
egg-seller  by  trade.  I  hereby  agree,  on  the  august, 
divine  oath  by  our  lord  the  Emperor  and  the  Caesars,  to 
offer  my  eggs  in  the  market-place  publicly,  for  sale  and 
for  the  supply  of  the  said  city,  every  day  without  inter- 
mission ;  and  I  acknowledge  that  it  shall  be  unlawful 
for  me  in  the  future  to  sell  secretly  or  in  my  house.  If 
I  am  detected  so  doing  (I  shall  be  liable  to  the  penalty 
for  breaking  the  oath)." (•^*^-) 

II.  The  main  occupation  of  Egypt  was,  however, 
and  always  has.  been,  agriculture.  A  special  interest 
therefore  attaches  to  the  papyri  which  deal  with  farm 
work  ;  and  one  long  document,  from  Hermopolis,  gives 
a  general  view  of  the  occupations  of  the  labourers  on 
an  Egyptian  farm  for  several  months  of  the  year.^'''^^) 
It  appears  from  this  that  in  Thoth  (August-September) 


AGRICULTURE 


the  main  work  consisted  in  attending  to  the  dykes,  as 
the  flood  was  then  high  ;  also  men  were  employed  in 
artificial  irrigation  of  the  lands  uncovered  by  the  water, 
in  carting  manure,  and  weeding:  in  the  next  month, 
Phaophi  (September-October),  the  dykes  still  required 
attention,  but  less,  as  the  river  subsided  ;  artificial 
irrigation  was  still  carried  on,  and  the  breaking  up  of 
the  ground  was  begun  :  in  Athyr  (October-November) 
the  corn  was  sown,  and  the  land  had  to  be  manured 
and  watered :  in  Tybi  (December-January)  the  grow- 
ing crops  only  required  watering  and  manuring,  and 
hands  were  turned  to  vine-dressing  and  palm-cutting : 
while  in  Pharmouthi  and  Pachon  (March-May)  all  were 
busy  harvesting  and  thrashing  the  corn.  Another 
papyrus,  from  Memphis,  gives  particulars  of  the  work 
done  in  Mesore  (July-August).(^*^^)  In  this  month  there 
was  a  large  body  of  men  required  to  watch  and  repair 
the  dykes  ;  others  were  employed  in  clearing  up  after 
the  thrashing  of  the  harvest,  and  carrying  away  the 
chaff"  from  the  thrashing-floor  to  be  used  as  fuel  ;  while 
spare  hands  were  put  to  the  repair  of  farm  implements. 

12.  The  chief  crops  grown  were  corn  and  barley; 
but,  in  addition  to  these,  lentils  and  flax^^*^*^)  were 
not  infrequently  sown  ;  and  garden  grounds,  with  olives, 
figs,  palms,  and  vines,  are  commonly  mentioned.  A 
considerable  amount  of  land  must  also  have  been  used 
as  pasture, ^^^'^^  which  would  be  probably  sown  pasture, 
chiefly  clover,  as  in  modern  times.  The  propor- 
tionate amount  of  land  devoted  to  these  various 
crops  probably  corresponded  approximately  with  that 
of  the  present  day,  when  over  half  of  the  total  area 
under  cultivation  is  employed  for  the  growing  of  cereals. 
Cotton,  rice,  and  sugarcane  have  been  introduced,  and 
between  them  occupy  about  one-sixth  of  the  land,  which 
may  have  resulted  in  a  diminution  in  the  amount  of 
corn  grown  ;  and  Indian  corn  has  taken  a  place  among 
the  cereals  of  Egypt :  but,  with  these  exceptions,  the 
crops  now  raised  are  much  the  same  as  those  men- 
tioned in  the  papyri. 

13.  A  large  number  of  leases  of  land  are  preserved, 


1 66    LIFE  IN  THE  TOWNS  AND  VILLAGES  OF  EGYPT 


and  give  information  as  to  the  rents  usual  in  the  country. 
They  fall  into  two  distinct  classes. In  the  first,  the 
rent  paid  was  a  stated  number  of  artabai  of  corn,  vary- 
ing from  one  to  seven  and  a  half  per  aroura  ;  in  the 
second,  it  was  a  fixed  proportion  of  the  produce,  the 
lowest  rate  being  one-half  and  the  highest  four-fifths. 
The  terms  of  the  leases  do  not  give  any  sufficient 
evidence  for  distinguishing  between  these  two  classes, 
which  both  occur  in  all  parts  of  the  country  and  at  all 
periods. 

14.  The  wages  of  the  Egyptian  labourers,  so  far  as 
can  be  judged  from  the  rather  scanty  records,  show  a 
tendency  to  rise  steadily  in  nominal  amount  during  the 
first  three  centuries.  Thus,  in  78  a.d.,  labourers  at 
Hermopolis  received  from  three  to  five  obols  a  day  ; 

in  the  middle  of  the  second  century  the  ordinary  day's 
wages  of  a  workman  in  the  Fayum  were  eight  obols, 
to  judge  from  the  sum  fixed  for  purchasing  exemption 
from  labour  on  dykes  ;(^''^')  in  215,  bricklayers  at  Arsinoe 
were  paid  two  and  a  half  drachmae,  and  a  bricklayer's 
labourer  two  drachmae  ;  (^''^^  and  in  255  the  rate  at 
Memphis  was  from  six  to  nine  drachmae  daily-^"*^-)  This 
rise,  however,  was  due  probably  rather  to  the  deprecia- 
tion in  the  coinage  than  to  any  improvement  in  the 
position  of  the  workmen,  as  the  prices  of  all  articles 
seem  to  show  a  corresponding  advance. 

15.  In  one  way  the  papyri  give  a  rather  unfavour- 
able impression  of  the  Egyptians,  on  account  of  the 
number  of  complaints  made  to  the  local  authorities  of 
thefts  and  assaults.  The  impression  is  perhaps  not  quite 
a  fair  one,  as  the  evil  deeds  were  naturally  chronicled, 
while  the  good  ones  went  unrecorded  ;  but  the  Romans, 
not  without  reason,  regarded  Egypt  as  a  country  speci- 
ally liable  to  disturbance. Some  of  the  cases  may 
serve  to  show  how  quarrels  arose  in  Egyptian  villages  ; 
for  instance,  a  formal  complaint  lodged  with  the  stra- 
tegos  of  the  Herakleid  district  of  the  Arsinoite  nome  by 
Tarmouthis,  a  female  seller  of  vegetables,  sets  forth 
that  on  the  fourth  of  this  month,  Taorsenouphis,  wife 
of  Ammonios  Phimon,  an  elder  of  the  village  of  Bacchias, 


CRIME  IN  EGYPT 


,67 


though  she  had  no  occasion  against  me,  came  to  my 
house  and  made  herself  most  unpleasant  to  me  ;  besides 
tearing  my  tunic  and  cloak,  she  carried  off  sixteen 
drachmae  that  I  had  put  by,  the  price  of  vegetables  I 
had  sold.  And  on  the  fifth  her  husband  Ammonios 
Phimon  came  into  my  house,  pretending  he  was  looking 
for  my  husband,  and  took  my  lamp  and  went  up  into 
the  house  ;  and  he  went  off  with  a  pair  of  silver  armlets 
weighing  forty  drachmge,  my  husband  being  away  from 
home."^^"^)  A  more  serious  accusation  is  one  addressed 
to  the  prefect  from  the  Great  Oasis  by  Syrus  son  of 
Petechon.  He  states:  "I  married  a  wife  of  my  own 
tribe,  Tsek  .  .  .,  a  freeborn  woman  of  free  parents,  and 
have  children  by  her.  Now  Tabes,  daughter  of  Am- 
monios, and  her  husband  Laloi,  and  Psenesis  and  Straton 
their  sons,  have  committed  an  act  which  disgraces  all 
the  chiefs  of  the  town,  and  shows  their  recklessness  ; 
they  carried  off  my  wife  and  children  aforesaid  to  their 
own  house,  calling  them  slaves,  though  they  are  free, 
and  my  wife  has  brothers  living  who  are  free  ;  and 
when  I  remonstrated  they  seized  me  and  beat  me 
shamefully. "  ^  '''^^  Perhaps  the  most  curious  comment- 
aries on  the  state  of  Egypt,  however,  may  be  found  in 
the  life  of  Schnoudi.  On  one  occasion  a  man  came  to 
him,  and,  on  being  told  by  the  saint  that  he  was  a 
murderer,  remembered  an  incident  which  had  appar- 
ently passed  out  of  his  memory— how  he  had  taken  his 
sword,  gone  out,  and  killed  a  woman,  no  reason  what- 
ever being  suggested  for  this-^^"*^)  At  the  same  time 
the  dux  was  on  his  way  up  the  river  ;  and,  when  a 
number  of  robbers  were  presented  to  him,  he  promptly 
put  them  to  death  without  trial. But  the  lawless- 
ness of  Egypt  was  unquestionably  much  greater  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  Roman  period  ;  and,  as  has  already 
been  seen,  during  the  last  fifty  years  before  the  Arab 
conquest,  the  country  was  practically  in  a  state  of 
anarchy. 


APPENDIX  I 


THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT 

Under  Augustus,  the  Roman  g-arrison  of  Egypt  was 
furnished  by  three  legions,  one  of  which  was  stationed 
at  Alexandria  and  a  second  at  Babylon  ;  together  with 
nine  cohorts,  three  being  at  Alexandria  and  three  at 
Syene  (Strabo,  xvii,  i).  But  one  legion  had  already 
been  withdrawn  by  the  time  of  Tiberius  (Tac.  Ann. 
iv.  5),  and  the  garrison  continued  at  this  strength,  the 
legions  left  being  the  iii  Cyrenaica  and  the  xxii  Deiota- 
riana,  till  the  time  of  Trajan,  who,  not  before  the  year 
99  (cf.  B.G.U.  140),  withdrew  these  two  and  substituted 
for  them  a  single  new  one,  the  ii  Traiana  Fortis,  which 
continued  to  serve  in  Egypt  for  the  rest  of  its  history. 
There  is  no  further  account  to  be  found  of  the  Roman 
army  in  Egypt  as  a  whole  till  that  given  by  the  Notitia 
Dignitatum,  which  mentions  eight  legions,  eleven  com- 
panies of  cavalry,  thirty  al^e,  and  nineteen  cohorts,  as 
stationed  in  the  province. 

The  Roman  troops  in  Egypt  were,  as  has  been  shown 
by  Mommsen  (Hermes,  xix.  p.  4),  mainly  recruited 
from  Egypt  ;  with  the  exception  that,  in  the  first 
century,  when  the  iii  Cyrenaica  and  xxii  Deiotariana 
were  in  garrison,  a  large  proportion  of  Galatians  were 
found  among  the  troops.  He  explains  this  circumstance 
by  the  supposition  that,  with  the  kingdoms  of  Egypt 
and  Galatia,  Augustus  took  over  the  Ptolemaic  and 
Deiotarian  armies  {ibid,  p.  51).  In  later  times  the 
Egyptian  troops  were  never  sent  out  of  the  country  ; 
and  this  fact,   coupled  with  the  constitution  of  the 

169 


I70 


THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT 


Egyptian  army,  shows  how  the  province  was  treated 
as  a  separate  kingdom,  and  the  forces  raised  there 
were  used  only  for  home  service  (Hermes,  xix.  p.  218). 
This  rule  was  first  broken  by  Valens,  who,  as  already 
shown  (ch.  V.  §  15),  sent  some  of  the  Egyptian 
soldiers  to  serve  in  other  provinces,  and  filled  their 
places  with  Goths  ;  and  so,  in  the  lists  of  the  Notitia 
Dignitatum,  the  ala  ii  nova  ^gyptiorum  is  found  serv- 
ing at  Cartha  in  Mesopotamia,  and  the  cohors  ii 
yEgyptiorum  at  Vallis  Diocletiana  in  Phoenicia. 

The  following  tables  give  the  references  to  the 
various  legions,  cohorts,  alae,  and  other  troops  which 
have  been  preserved  in  Egypt.  [The  legions  whose 
names  are  bracketed  w^ere  probably  not  stationed  in 
Egypt.] 

Legio  i  Illyrica.  Dedication  by  priests  at  Koptos  •I3i5|- 
(Rec.  Trav.  xvi.  p.  44).  Similar  dedication,  from  Syene 
{323}  (Inscr.  App.  iii.  8). 

Legio  i  Maximiana.    Stationed  at  Philae  {c.  425J-  (Not.  Dig-n.). 

Legio  i  Valeyitiniana.  Stationed  at  Koptos  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 

Legio  ii  Flavia  Constantia  Thebceorum.  Stationed  at  Cusae 
{c.  425^  (Not.  Dig-n.). 

Legio  ii  Trajana.  A  vexillus  at  Pselkis  {109}  (C.I.L.  iii.  79). 
Graffito  of  a  soldier  at  Thebes  1127}  (C.I.L.  iii.  42).  A 
centurion  at  Syene  -Jc.  i4oI-  (Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107, 
No.  2).  A  veteran  in  Fayum  -{143I-  (B.G.U.  113).  A 
soldier  transferred  into  coh.  i  Aug.  Pra^t.  Lusitanorum 
^,156}  (B.G.U.  696).  Soldiers  ■;i48,  161  J-  (B.G.U.  265,  195). 
A  centurion  at  Syene  {162}  (Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107, 
No.  3).  A  soldier  1 167;-  (B.G.U.  240).  Dedication  by, 
tribune  at  Alexandria  [176 J-  (C.I.L.  iii.  13).  Veterans  at 
Alexandria  {194J-  (C.I.L.  iii.  6580).  Soldier  {201}  (B.G.U. 
156).  Restoration  of  camp  under  centurion  {175}  (M.A. 
loi).  Equites  promoti  secundi  at  Tentyra  1302}  (G.G.P.  ii. 
74).  Stationed  at  Parembole  and  ApoUinopolis  magna 
{c.  425!-  (Not  Dign.). 

[Dates  not  fixed  precisely.] 

Tombstones  at  Alexandria  (C.I.L.  iii.  6592,  6593,  6594, 
6595,  6596,  6605,  6609,  661 1,  6613  ;  M.A.  92,  92  A,  89  A  ;  Rev, 
Arch.  1891,  p.  333,  No.  9).  Dedication  at  Alexandria  (M.A. 
14).  Soldier  (B^G.U.  378). 
Legio  ii  Valentiniayia.  Stationed  at  Hermonthis  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

\Legio  iii  Augusfa.]  Graffito  by  a  tribune  at  Thebes  -Ii68| 
(C.I.L.  iii.  67).  Graffito  bv  a  soldier  at  Thebes  {20^} 
(C.I.L.  iii.  52). 


THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT 


T71 


Legio  Hi  Cyrenaica.  Inscription  of  homage  at  Pselkis  133!- 
(C.I.G.  iii.  5101).  Dedication  at  Ekfas  -147/8}  (C.I.L.  \n. 
6624).  Sent  to  Jewish  war  [c.  70}  (Tac.  Hist.  v.  i). 
Graffito  by  a  soldier  at  Thebes  {80/1  )•  (C.I.L.  iii.  34). 
Tombstone  of  soldier  at  Alexandria  {80}  (C.I.L.  iii.  6603). 
Graffito  at  Gehel-et-Ter  {under  DomitianJ-  (R. E.G.  ii.  p. 
174  ffi).  A  soldier  {95}  (Pap.  B.M.  142).  In  winter 
quarters  {99/100  or  102/3}  (B.G.U.  140). 

[Undated.]  Dedication  by  a  centurion  at  Ptolemais 
(M.G.  301).  Tombstones  at  Alexandria  (C.I.L.  iii.  6599, 
6602,  6607).    Graffito  opposite  Girgeh  (R.E.G.  i.  p.  311). 

Legio  iii  Diocletiana.  Stationed  at  "Andros,"  "  Praesentia," 
Ombos,  and  Thebes  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dig-n.). 

Legio  iii  Gallica.  Statue  dedicated  by  centurion  at  Alexandria 
{c.  105}  (Inscr.  M.A.,  Botti's  Catalogue,  p.  149).  Dedica- 
tion by  priests  at  Koptos  {315}  (Rec.  Trav.  xvi.  p.  44). 
Similar  dedication  from  Syene  {323}  (Inscr.  App.  iii.  8). 

Legio  iv  Flavia.   Stationed  at  Oxyrhynchos  {295}  (G.O.P.  i.  43). 

Legio  V  Macedonica.  Stationed  at  Memphis  {c.  425}  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Legio  vii  Claudia  Stationed  at  Oxyrhynchos  {295}  (G.O.P. 
i-  43)- 

Legio  xi  Claudia.  Stationed  at  Oxyrhynchos  {295}  (G.O.P. 
i.  43)-  . 

[Legio  xii  Fulminafa.]  Graffito  by  a  primipilaris  at  Thebes 
{65}  (C.I.L.  iii.  30).  A  veteran  in  Fayum  {138}  (B.G.U. 
272). 

Legio  xtii  Gemuia.   Stationed  at  Babylon  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 

\Legio  XV  Apollinaris.\  A  centurion  in  charge  'of  works  at 
Mons  Claudianus  {under  Trajan}  (C.I.L.  iii.  25). 

Legio  xxii  Deiotariana.  A  soldier  {15}  (Pap.  B.M.  256R). 
Dedication  at  Ekfas  {47/8}  (C.I.L.  iii.  6624).  Graffito  at 
Thebes  {65}  (C.I.L.  iii.  30).  Withdrawn  to  Jewish  war 
{c.  70}  (Tac.  Hist.  v.  i).  Graffito  at  Thebes  {84}  (C.I.L. 
iii.  36.  Reference  to  winter  quarters  {99/100  or  102/3} 
(B.G.U.  140).  Graffiti  at  Thebes  {147,  189}  (C.I.G.  iii. 
4766,  4768). 

[Undated.]  Tombstones  at  Alexandria  (C.I.L.  iii.  6598, 
6600,  6602,  6606,  6608,  6623,  6623  a;  Rev.  Arch.  1891, 
P-  333>  No.  12).  Graffiti  at  Thebes  (C.I.L.  iii.  £56,  S7>  58, 
60).  A  soldier  (B.G.U.  455). 
Equites  Stahlesiani.  Stationed  at  Pelusium  {c.  425}  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Equites  Saraceni  Thamudeni.    Stationed  at  Scense  Veteran- 

orum  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Equites  Sagittarii  indige?icB.    Stationed  at  Tentyra,  Koptos, 

Diospolis,  Latopolis,  and  Maximianopolis  {c.  425}  (Not. 

Dign.). 

Equites  scutarii.  Stationed  at  Hermopolis  {c.  425}  (Not, 
Dign.). 


172 


THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT 


Eqiiites  felices  Honoriani.  Stationed  at  Asphynis  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Equifes  Mauri  scutarii.  Stationed  at  Lykopolis  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dig-n.). 

Eqidtes  cataphractarii.  A  vexillatio  at  Arsinoe  {359}-  (B.G.U. 
.316). 

Milites  miliarenses.  Stationed  at  Syene  Jc.  425}  (Not.  Dig-n.). 
Ala  i  Abasgoniiii.    Stationed  at  Hibis,  in  the  Great  Oasis 

{c.  425;-  (Not.  Dign.). 
Ala  i  ^gyptioriiDi.     Stationed  at  Selle  -jc.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Ala  a  jrEgyptioniiii.     Stationed  at  Tacosiris   {c.  425}-  (Not. 

Dign.).' 

Ala  a  Ulpia  Afroriim.  Soldiers  {159}  (B.G.U.  142).  {177}- 
(B.G.U.  241).  Stationed  at  Thaubastis  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  Apriana.  Discharge  of  veterans  {831-  (C.I.L.  iii.  Const. 
Vet.  XV.).  A  soldier  {120}  (B.G.U.  69).  Graffito  by  pre- 
fect at  Thebes  {i7oI-  (C.I.L.  iii.  49).  Stationed  at  Hipponon 
{c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.).  Inscription  at  Syene  {  ?  }  (C.I.L. 
iii.  6626). 

Ala  ii  Arahiim.    Stationed  at  Terenuthis  {425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Ala  Arcadiana.    [No  station.]    {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Ala  ii  Armeniorinji.    Stationed  in  Lesser  Oasis  -Jc.  425J-  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Ala  ii  Assyriorum.  Stationed  at  "  Sosteos "  {c.  425}  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Ala  Augusta.  Discharge  of  veterans  -[83}  (C.I.L.  iii.  Const. 
Vet.  XV.). 

Ala  iv  Britonuni.    Stationed  at  Isium  -[c.  425[-  (Not.  Dign.). 
Ala  ijovia  cataphractariorum.    Stationed  at  Pampanis  -[c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  Commage7ioru))i.  Discharge  of  veterans  {83]-  (C.I.L.  iii. 
Const.  Vet.  xv.).  Graffito  at  Talmis  -[?  ist  cent.}  (C.I.G. 
iii-  5057)- 

Ala  iii  dromedarioriim.  Stationed  at  j\Iaximianopolis  -[c.  425J- 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  ii  Herculia  dromedarioriim.     Stationed  at  "  Psinaula " 

■Jc.  425:-  (Not.  Dign.). 
Ala  i  Valeria  drotnedartoriim.    Stationed  at  "  Prectis  "  {c.  425} 

(Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  i  Franconim,  Stationed  at  Contra  Apollinopolis  -[c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  Gallica.    Soldiers  {191}  (G.G.P.  i,  48;  G.G.P.  2,  51). 
Ala  Antoniana  Gallica.    A  sesquiplicarius  ■J2i7l-  (B.G.U.  614). 
Ala  Veterana  Gallica.    Dedications  at  Alexandria  {191'-  (C.I.L. 

iii.   14,   15).     Stationed   at    Rhinocorura    {c.   425]-  (Not. 

Dign.). 

Ala  Germanoriim.    Stationed  at  PescIa  {c.  425|-  (Not.  Dign.). 
Ala  i  Herculia.    Stationed  at  Scenae  extra  Gerrhas  -Jc.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  i  Iberorum.    Stationed  at  Thmuis  -Jc.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 


THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT 


173 


A/a  Maurorinn.     Decurioii  in  charge  of  quarries  at  Phil;c 

{c.  203;-  (C.I.L.  370). 
Ala  Neptimia.     Stationed  at  Chenoboskion   {c.  425}  (Not. 

Dign.). 

Ala  vtii  Pahnyrenoruni.  Stationed  at  Phcenikon  -Jc.  4^5' 
(Not.  Dig-n.). 

Ala  V  Pr(£lectoriini.  Stationed  at  Dionysias  {c.  42c;]-  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Ala  i  Quadoruvi.  Stationed  in  Lesser  Oasis  Jc.  425^^  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Ala  V  RcEtorum.  Stationed  at  Scense  Veteranorum  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  vii  Sarmatariim.  Stationed  at  Scense  Mandrorum  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  i  Thractim  Manretana.  A  soldier  {i54/5r  (B.G.  U.  26). 
A  decurion  transferred  into  coh.   i  Aug.   Prait.  Lusitan. 

(B.G.U.  696).    Dedication  at  Alexandria  {199;-  (C.I.L. 
iii.  14).    Camp  at  Qa?ilarah  {288}-  (Inscr.  E.E.  F.  Tanis, 

ii.  p.  98). 

Ala  i  Tingitana.    Stationed  at  Thimanepsis  {c.  425|-  (Not. 

Ala  viii  Vandaloriim.  Stationed  at  Neapolis  {c.  4251-  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Ala  Vocontioriim.    At  Koptos  ■|i34l-  (B.G.U.  114).  Dedication 

by  duplicarius,  opposite  Koptos  {164}  (Inscr.  in  G.G.P.  ii. 

p.  8s).    Graffito  at  Gebel-et-Toukh  {  ?  }  (R.E.G.  i.  p.  311, 

No.  6).    A  soldier  {2/3C.}  (B.G.U.  4). 
Ala  vii  Herculia  volnntaria.    Stationed  at  Contra  Latopolis 

{c.  425HNot.  Dign.). 
Ala  viii  .    Stationed  at  Abydos  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 

Ala  Theodosiana.    [No  station]  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dig-n.). 
Cohors  ix  Alamannoruni.    Stationed  at  Burgus  Severi  {c.  425} 

(Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  i  Apa?ncEoruni.    A  soldier  {144}  (B.G.U.  729).    A  soldier 

{145}  (Pap.  B.M.  178).    A  soldier  {Antoninus}  (B.G.U.  462). 

A  libellarius  {2nd  cent.}  (B.G.U.  243).    Stationed  at  Silsilis 

{c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Cohors  ii  Asturum.    Stationed  at  Busirls  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Cohors  xi  Chamavorum,     Stationed   at   Panopolis   {c.  425} 

(Not.  Dig-n.). 

Cohors  i  Flavia  Cilicum.    Discharge  of  veterans  {83}  (C.I.L. 

iii.  Const.  Vet.  xv.).  A  soldier  exchang-ed  into  coh.  i  Aug. 
Praet.  Lusitanorum  {156}  (B.G.U.  696). 

Cohors  i  Flavia  Cilicum  egtiitata.  Tribune  at  Mons  Claudianus 
{118}  (C.I.G.  4713),  Prefect  (C.I.R.  18).  Built  basilica  at 
Syene  {c.  140}  (C.I.L.  iii.  6625).  Erected  altar  at  Syene 
{c.  140}  (Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107,  No.  2).  Erected  altar 
at  Syene  {162}  (Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107,  No,  3)  [prob- 
ably =  coh.  i  equitata  {154/5}  (B.G.U.  26)  and  coh.  i 
Flavia  {158}  (Inscr.  App.  iii.  10)]. 


174 


THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT 


Conors  i  Damascenorum.    Prefect  {i35f  (B.G.U.  73,  136). 
Cohors  i  Epireoriun.    Stationed  at  Castra  Judaeorum  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  vii  Francorum.  Stationed  at  Diospolis  { c.  425 } 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  iii  Galatartim.  Stationed  at  Cephro  {c.  425}  (Not. 
Dign.). 

Cohors  mi  Hyrcanoncm.  Graffito  by  prefect  at  Thebes  ^  ?  } 
(C.I.L.  iii.  59). 

Cohors  i  Hispa7wrum.    Discharge  of  veterans  -{83}  (C.I.L.  iii. 

Const.  Vet.  xv,), 
Cohors  i  Hispanornm  eqnttata.    Erected  altar  at  Syene  {98} 

(Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107,  No.  i). 
Cohors  a  Hispanoruni,     Graffiti  at  Tahiiis  {84}  (C.I.G.  iii. 

5043,  5044,  5045,  5046,  5047).    Stationed  at  Oxyrhynchos 

(295}  (G.O.P.  i.  43)- 
Cohors  a  Hispanornm  eqnttata.    Graffito  by  prefect  at  Thebes 

{i95r  (C.I.L.  iii.  50). 
Cohors   Ityrceorum.      Erected    altar    at    Syene    {39}  (Inscr. 

P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107,  No.  i). 
Cohors  a  ItyrcEortun,    Discharge  of  veterans  {83}  (C.I.L.  iii. 

Const.  Vet.  XV.).     Graffito*^  at  Pselkis  {136}  (C.I.G.  iii. 

5081).    Graffito  at  Talmis  { 147}  (C.I.G.  iii.  5050).  Stationed 

at  Aiy  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign).    Graffito  at  Hiera  Sykaminos 

^probably  ist  or  2nd  cent.[  (C.I.G.  iii.  5110). 
Cohors  ii  Ityrceorum  equitata.    Erected  altar  at  Syene  {98} 

(Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107,  No.  i). 
Cohors  iii  Ityrceorum.    Discharge  of  veterans  {83}  (C.I.L.  iii. 

Const.  Vet.  xv.).    Graffito  at  Gehel-et-Toukh  {  ?  \  (R.E.G. 

i.  p.  311,  No.  7). 
Cohors  iv  Juthiingonim.    Stationed  at  Aphroditopolis  {c.  425} 

(Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  i  Aiiffi(sta  Prcetoria  Ltisitanoruni.  Camp  at  Hierakon- 
polis  {288}  (C.I.L.  iii.  22).  Stationed  at  same  place 
{c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  i  Augusta  Prcetoria  Liisitanoriim  equitata.  In  winter 
quarters  at  Contrapollonopolis  major :  strength,  6  cen- 
turions, 3  decurions,  114  horse,  19  camel-riders,  363  foot 
-•156}  (B.G.U.  696). 

Cohors  iv  Numidorum.  Stationed  at  Narmunthis  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  i  {Augusta')  Parmoniormn.  Discharge  of  veterans  {c.  83} 
(C.I.L.  iii.  Const.  Vet.  xv.).  Stationed  at  Thmuis  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign-.). 

Cohors  scutata  civiiim  Romanorum.  A  soldier  {143/4}  (B.G.U. 
741).  Stationed  at  Muthis  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.).  Tomb- 
stone at  Alexandria  {  ?  }  (C.I.L.  iii.  6610). 

Cohors  i  Sagittariorum.  Stationed  at  "Naisiu"  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  V  Syenensiiim.    Stationed  at  Syene  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 


THE  ROMAN  GARRISON  IN  EGYPT 


'75 


Cohors  vi  Siigambroruui.    Stationed  at  Castra  Lapidariorum 

{c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Cohors  i  Thebceoruni.     Discharg-e  of  veterans  i^T,)  (C.I.L.  iii. 

Const.    Vet.    xv.).      Soldier    at    Cortis    {116}  (Rivista 

Eg-iziana,  1894,  p.  529).    Grafifiti  at  Talmis  {  ?  r  (C.I.G. 

iii.  5052,  5053,  5054,  5055),  at  Hiera  Sycaminos  {  ?  }  (C.I.G. 

iii.  51 17). 

Cohors  i  Thehceorum  equitata.    Erected  altar  at  Syene  {98} 

(Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107,  No.  1). 
Cohors  a  Thehceorum,    Discharge  of  veterans  {83}  (C.I.L.  iii. 

Const.  Vet.  xv.).    Graffito  of  prefect  at  Thebes  {95}  (C.I.L. 

iii-  37)- 

Cohors  i  Felix  Theodosiana.  Stationed  at  Elephantine  {c.  425} 
(Not.  Dign.). 

Cohors  i  Flavia   Thracum.     Graffito   at   Wady  Hammamat 

{Domitian}  (Letr.  Rech.  427). 
Cohors  a  Thractim.    Ostrakon  at  Thebes  {c.  200}  (R.E.  ii. 

p.  346).    Stationed  at  Muson  {c.  425}  (Not.  Dign.). 
Cohors  ix  Tzanoruvi.    Stationed  at  "Nitnu"  {c.  42:^}  (Not. 

Dign.). 

Numeriis  Transtigritanoruni.  A  soldier  at  Arsinoe  {498}  (B.M. 
Pap.  113,  5a). 

Numerus  Auxxliarwruvi   Constanttanortim .     A  soldier  {359} 

(B.G.U.  316). 
Numerus  Hermonthitoruvi  {525}  (B.G.U.  673). 
Scythi  Justiniani.      Stationed   at  Hermopolis    Magna  {6th 

cent.}  (G.G.P.  2,  95). 
Bucolia.    At  Scenae  Mandrse  {2nd/3rd  cent.}  (B.G.U.  625). 
Sagittarii  Hadriani  Palmyreni  Antoniniani.     A  vexillarius  at 

Koptos  {216}  (Petrie,  Koptos,  vi.  5). 
Classis  Alexandrina.     Soldier  {ist  cent.}  (B.G.U.  4s s)*  ^ 

soldier  {143/4}  (B.G.U.  741).    Prefect  {159}  (B.G.U.  142, 

143)-           .  .                    .                                  ,  ^ 

Classis  prcetoria  Misenarum.     Discharge  of  veterans  {143} 

(B.G.U.  113).  Veterans  {176,  189}  (B.G.U.  327,  326). 

Classis  Syriaca.  Discharge  of  veterans  {143,  148}  (B.G.U. 
113,  ^65). 


APPENDIX  II 


PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT 


C.  Cornelius  Gallus 


C.  Petronius  . 
tEUus  Gallus  . 

C.  Petronius,  it.  [n;] 
P.  Rubrius  Barbarus 

C.  Turranius 

P.  Octavius  = 


'M.  Maximus 
Aquila  . 

.Vitrasius  Pollio 
C.  Galerius  . 

Vitrasius  Pollio,  it. 

Ti.  Julius  Severus  . 

A.  Avillius  Flaccus 

^milius  Rectus  . 
L.  Selus  Strabo 


B.C.  30  (Strabo,  xvii.  i )  (Dio  C.  li.  9, 

Hi.  23).    B.C.  29,  Apl.  15  (Inscr. 

Sitzung-sb.  d.  k.  Preuss.  Akad. 

1896,  p.  469). 
B. C.  26 ( Strabo,  xvii.  i ) (Dio C.  liv.  5). 
B.C.  2^  (Strabo,  xvi.  3,  xvii.  i)(Dio 

C.  liii.  29). 
B.C.  24  (Strabo,  xvii.  i). 
B.C.  13  (Inscr.  Bull,  dell'  1st.  1866, 

p.  44).     B.C.  12  (C.I.L.  ii 


B.C.  7  fC.I.G. 
B.M.  354). 


4923).  ?(Pap. 


A.D.  I,  Sept.  23  (C.I.G.  iii.  4715). 
3,  Feb.  25  (Inscr.  Brugsch  Geog-r, 
i.  136). 

[under  Augustus]  (Philo,  adv.  Place. 
I). 

[under  Aug-ustus]  (Josephus,  Ant. 
Jud.  xix.  5.  2). 

16/17  (C.I.G.  4963)- 
21  (C.I.G.  471 1).   ?(Plin.  N.H.  xix. 
3). 

to  circa  31  (Seneca,  Cons,  ad  Helv.). 

(Dio  C.  Iviii.  19). 
circa  .^2  (Philo,  adv.  Place,  i)  (Dio 

C.  Iviii.  19). 
32-37( Philo, adv.  Place,  i).  ?(C.I.G. 

4716). 

[under  Tiberius]  (Suetonius,  Tib. 

32)  (Dio  C.  Ivii.  10). 
[under  Tiberius]  (Dio  C.  Ivii.  19). 


176 


PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT 


177 


Naevius  Sertorius  Macro  [b] 
C.  \'itrasius  Pollio 

L.  ^milius  Re[ctus] 

C.  Julius  Postumus 
Cu.  X'ergilius  Capito 

L.  Lusius 

M.  Metius  Modestus 
Ti.  Claudius  Balbillus  = 
L.  Julius  \"estinus . 

Csecina  Tuscus 

Ti.  Julius  Alexander 

Ti.  Julius  Lupus 
Paulinus 

Stettius  Africanus  . 
C.  Septimus  Vegetus 

Mettius  Rufus  [c]  . 


T.  Petronius  Secundus  . 
C.  Pompeius  Planta 


[under  Caligula]  (Dio  C.  lix.  10). 

39,  Apl.  28  (Tnscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii. 
p.  io7  =  Acad.  des  Inscr.  et  B.L. 
1896,  p.  39).  4o'i  (Pap.  B.M. 
177)- 

41/2  (Inscr.  Bull.  corr.  hell.  1895,  p. 
524)- 

nrra  47  (C.I.G.  iii.  4957). 

47  8  (C.I.L.  iii.  6024).    49,  Feb.  i 

(C.I.G.  iii.  4956).    49 '50  (G.O.P. 

i.  38).  52,  Apl.  24  (G.O.P.  i.  39). 
54,  Apl.  5  (Inscr.  App.  iii.  5). 

[under  Claudius]  (Suidas,  s.7'.  'Ettq- 
(ppodiTos) 

(Tacitus,  Ann.  xiii.  22).  ? (C.I.G. 

iii.  4699).  ?(Plin.  N.H.  xix.  3). 
? (C.I.G.  iii.  4957). 

59/60  (Inscr.  R.E.G.  vii.  p.  284). 
60/1  (Inscr.  Petrie,  Illahun,  p. 
32).  61  2(B.G.U.  112).  ?(C.I.G. 

iii-  4957)- 

67  (Dio  C.  Ixiii.  18)  (Tac.  Ann.  xiii. 
20).    (Tac.  Hist.  iii.  38). 

68,  Sept.  28  (C.I.G.  iii.  4957).  69, 
July  I  (Tac.  Hist.  i.  11,  ii.  79) 
(Sueton.  Vesp.  6)  (Josephus,  Bell. 
Jud.  ii.  18). 

71  (Josephus,  Bell.  Jud.  vii.  ro). 
?(Plin.  N.H.  xix.  11). 

[succeeded  Lupus]  (Josephus,  Bell. 
Jud.  vii.  10). 

82,  Feb.  2  (C.I.L.  iii.  35). 

86  (C.I.L.  iii  2,  p.  856).  88,  Feb. 
26  (Inscr.  B.C.H.  1896,  p.  167). 
?(Suet.  Dom.  4). 

90,  Apl.  10  (G.O.P.  i.  72).  90,  May 
10  (Inscr.  Petrie,  Koptos,  c.  vi. 
No.  4).  90  (Inscr.  Petrie,  Kop- 
tos, c.  vi.  No.  3).  ?  (Inscr.  R.E.G. 

iv.  p.  46,  No.  V.  i),  ?  (Suetonius, 
Domitian,  4). 

95,  March  14  (C.I.L.  iii.  37). 

98  (Inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107  = 

Acad,  des  Inscr.  et  B.L.  1896,  p. 

40)  (Plin.  Ep.  ad  Traj.  7,  io)= 

99,  Feb.  26(B.G.U.  226).  ?(Inscr. 

R.A.  1889,  i.  p.  70). 


178  PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT 

C.  Vibius  Maximus       .        .     103,  Aug-.  29  (Inscr.  M.A.  70).  104, 

Feb.  16 (C.I. L.  iii.  38).  ?(B.G.U. 
329)- 

C.  Minicius  Italus  [d]    .       .    105  (C.I.L.  v.  875).    ? (Inscr.  M.A. 

Botti's  Catalogue,  p.  149). 
C.  Sulpicius  Simius       •        ,     108/9  (C.I.L.  iii.  24).    109,  May  10 

(C.I.G.   iii.  4713  c).      109,  May 

14  (C.I.G.  iii.  4714).  ?(B.G.U. 

140). 

M.  Rutilius  Lupus        .       .     1 15/6  (Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  iv.  2). 

116,  Mav  24  (C.I.G.  iii.  4948). 
ii7jan.5(B.G.U.ii4).  ?(C.I.G. 
iii.  4843).  ?(G.O.P.i.97).  ?(Pap. 
Bull,  deir  1st.  di  diritto  romano, 
i895»  P-  155)- 

Q.  Marcius  Turbo  [^'J    .        .     117  (Dio  C.  Ixix.  18)  (Hist.  Aug". 

Hadrian,  7). 

Rhammius  Martialis  ,     118,  Apl.  23  (C.I.G.  iii.  4713). 

T.  Haterius  Nepos       .        .     121,  Feb.  18  (C.I.L.  iii.  39).  122, 

Apl.  21  (B.G.U.  742).     124,  Apl. 

i3(C.P.R.  i8K 

T.  Flavius  Titianus       .       .    126,  March  20  (C.I.L.  Iii.  41).  127, 

Aug.  20  (G.O.P.  i.  34^').  130/1 
(B.G.U. 420).  i3i,Aug.2(B.G.U. 
459)- 

Sex.  Petronius  Mamertinus  ,    134,  Feb.  25  (B.G.L^.   114).  134, 

March  10  (C.I.L.  iii.  44).  i^^^, 
Feb.  II  (B.G.U.  19).  ?(C.LL.  iii. 
77)- 

Valerius  Eudaemoii       .       o    [under  Hadrian]  G.O.P.  i.  40. 

C.  Avidius  Heliodorus  .       .     139,  March  30  (B.G.L'.  729).  140, 

Aug.  12  (C.I.G.  iii.  4955).  142, 
Aug.  26  (Pap.  Bull,  deir  1st.  di 
diritto  romano,  1891^,  p.  I  ^^).  143 
(B.G.U.  113)  (B.G.U.^  256)'. 
?  (C.I.L.  iii.  6025).  ?  (Inscr. 
P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107  =  Acad,  des 
Inscr.  et  B.L.  1896,  p.  41). 

M.  Petronius  Honoratus       .     148,  Jan.  12  (B.G.U.  265).  ?(Pap. 

B.M.  358). 

L.  Munatius  Felix  .        .        .     i5o(Justin  Martyr,  Apol.).  ?(Inscr. 

R.A.  1894,  P-  402).    ? (C.I.G.  iii. 

4863).  ?(B.G.U.  161).  ?(B.G.U. 

6.3).  ?(Pap.  B.M.  358). 
M.  Sempronius  Liberalis  [y]      1:^4,  Aug.  29  (B.G.U,  372).  i^S 

^( B.G.U.  26).    156,  Jan.  i  (B.G.U. 

696). 

[V^ol]usius  Mascianus  [^J        .    about  159  (B.G.U.  613). 


PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT 


179 


L.  Valerius  Proculus 


M.  Annius  Syriacus 

Domitius  Honoratus 
T.  Flavins  Titianus 
M.  Bassaius  Rufus  [//]  . 
C.  Calvisius  Statianus  . 

T.  Pactunieius  Mag'nus 

Flavius  Priscus 

P.  MiEiiius  Flavianus  . 


M.  Aurelius  Papirius  Dionysius 


L.  Mantetinius  Sabinus 


M.  Ulpius  Primianus 

^milius  Saturninus  [i] . 
Maecius  Laetus 
Siibatianus  Aquila 


Septimius  Heracleitus  . 
Valerius  Datus  [k] 

Basilianus 
Geminius  Chrestus 

Msevius  Honorianus 

— idinius  Julianus  . 

Epag'athus 

Appius  Sabinus 

/Emilianus 


[under  Antoninus]  (C.I.L.  ii.  1970) 
(B.G.U.  288). 

162/3  (B.G.U.  iq8)  (G.G.P.  ii.  56). 
163,  Jan.  (Pap.  B.M.328).  ?(Inscr. 
P.S.B.A.  xviii.  p.  107). 

165,  Jan.  6  (G.O.P.  i.  62R). 

166,  May  10  (C.I.G.  iii.  4701). 
r.  167  (C.I.L.  vi.  1599). 

171^,  Oct.  26  (M.A.  loi).    c.  176 

(Dio  C.  Ixxi.  28). 
between  177  and   180  (C.T.G.  iii. 

4704)  (B.G.U.  525). 
181  (B.G.U.  12). 

between   180  and  183  (C.I.(i.  iii. 

4683). 

[under  Commodus]  (Dio  C.  Ixxii. 
14)- 

193,  March  6  (B.G.U.  646).  194, 
April  21  (Borg-hesi,  CKuvres,  iv. 
440- 

194/5  (C.I.G.  iii.  4863).     196,  Feb. 

24  (C.I.L.  iii.  51). 
197,  July  II  (B.G.U.  15  II). 
201/2  (Euseb.  H.  E.  vi.  2). 
201/2  (B.G.U.  484).     204  (Euseb. 

H.  E.  vi.  3).    207,  Oct.  II  (Pap. 

Gen.  16).    ? (C.I.L.  iii.  75). 

215,  March  16  (B.G.U.  362). 

216,  June  5  (B.G.U.  159).  217,  Feb, 
17  (B.G.U.  614).  216/7  (B.G.U. 
266). 

217/8  (Dio  C.  Ixxviii.  35). 

219,  Aug".  13  (Inscr.  App.  iii.  13). 

220/1  (G.G.P.  i.  49). 
232,  June  (C.I.G.  iii.  4705). 

[under  Severus  Alexander]  G.O.P. 
i-  35- 

[under  Severus  Alexander]  (Dio  C. 
Ixxx.  2). 

250,  July  i7(C.P.R.i.2o).  ?(Euseb. 
H.  E.  vi.  40,  vii.  1 1 ). 

[under  Gallienus]  (Hist.  Aug-.  Trig-. 
Tyr.)  (Euseb.  H.  E.  vii.  11). 


i8o 


PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT 


Firmus  . 
Celerinus  [/]  . 


Pompeiiis  [;//] 
Culcianiis 

Satrius  Arrianus  . 
Sabinianus 

Fl.  Antonius  Theodoras 
Longinianus  . 

Parnasius 

Pomponius  Metrodorus 

Artemius 

Ecdicius 

Tatiaiius 

Publius  . 
Tatianus,  //.  . 

^lius  Palladius 

Tatianus  tert. 

Hadrianus 

Julianus 


Paulinus 

Bassianus 

Palladius 

Hypatius 

Antoninus 
Florentius 

Paulinus,  //.  . 


Florentius,  //. 


Erythrius 
Alexander 

Evag-rius 


[under  Aurelian  ?]  (Hist.  Aug.  Fir- 
mus, 3). 

[under  Carus]  (Claudian,  Epithal. 
Pall.  72). 

r.  302  (C.I.G.  iii.  4681). 

303,  Feb.  28(G.O. P.  i.  71).  ? (Euseb. 

H.E.  ix.  II). 
307  (G.G.P.  ii.  78). 
323,  Aug".  17  (G.O.P.  i.  60). 
338,  MaVch  28  (G.O.P.  i.  67). 
354,  Feb.  26  (Cod.  Theod.  xvi.  2. 

11). 

^'  357  (Amm.  Marc.  xix.  12). 

357,  July  2  (G.O.P.  i.  66). 

360  (Amm.  Marc.  xxii.  11). 

362,  Dec.  2  (Cod.  Theod.  xv%  i.  8). 

c.  362  (Julian,  Ep.  ad  Ecd.). 
365/8  (Chron.  Putean.).     367,  May 

10  (Cod.  Theod.  xii.  18.  i). 
369/70  (Chron.  Put.). 
371/3   (Chron.    Put.).    ?  (John  of 

Nikiou,  82). 

374  (Chron.  Put.)  (Inscr.  App.  iii. 
15).   ? (Theod.  H.E.  iv.  19). 

375  (Chron.  Put.). 
376/7  (Chron.  Put.). 

380,  March  17  (Cod.  Theod.  xii.  i. 
80).  380 (Chron.  Put.).  ?(C.I.G. 
iii.  5071). 

380  (Chron.  Put.). 

381  (Chron.  Put.). 

382,  May  14  (Cod.  Theod.  viii.  5. 
37).    382  (Chron.  Put.). 

383,  May  8  (Cod.  Theod.  xi.  36. 
27).    382/3  (Chron.  Put.). 

383/4  (Chron.  Put.). 

384,  Dec.  18  (Cod.  Theod.  ix.  33. 
i).    384/5  (Chron.  Put.). 

385,  July  25  (Cod.  Theod.  xi.  39. 

10)  .  385,^  Nov.  30  (Cod.  Theod. 
xii.  6.  22). 

386,  Feb.  17  (Cod.  Theod.  i.  14.  i). 
386,  May  17  (Cod.  Theod.  xii.  i. 
1 12). 

388,  Apl.  30  (Cod.  Theod.  ix.  11.  i). 

390,  Feb.  18  (Cod.  Theod.  xiii.  5. 
18). 

391,  June  16  (Cod.  Theod.  xvi.  10. 

11)  .    ?(Soz.  H.  E.  vii.  15). 


PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT 


Potamius 
Hypatius,  it. 

Potamius,  //. 


CI.  Septimius  Eutropius 

Charmosynus 
Gennadius 

Remig-ius 

Archelaus 


Orestes  . 
Cleopater 
Florus  . 
Eustathius 

Theodosius 


392,  March  5  (Cod.  Theod.  i.  20.  2). 
392,  Apl.  9  (Cod.  Theod.  xi.  36. 
31). 

392,  June  22  (Cod.  Theod.  xii.  i. 
126).  392,  July  18  (Cod.  Theod. 
xvi.  4.  3).  392,  July  30  (Cod. 
Theod.  viii.  5.  51). 

between  384  and  392  (Inscr.  App. 
iii.  16). 

395  (Theophanes,  Chronogfr.  83). 
396,  Feb.  5  (Cod.  Theod.  xiv.  27. 
0- 

396,  March  30  (Cod.  Theod.  iii.  i. 
7)- 

397,  June  17  (Cod.  Theod.  ix.  45. 
2)-  397,  Nov.  26  (Cod.  Theod. 
ii.  I.  9). 

415  (Socr.  H.E.  vii.  13). 

435,  Jan.  29  (Cod.  Theod.  vi.  28.  8). 

453  (Priscus,  Frag.  22). 

501  (Eutych.  ii.  132). 

[under  Anastasius]  (John  of  Nikiou, 
89)  (Malala,  xvi.  401). 


(Military  Prefects,  acting  with  Patriarch  as  Civil  Prefect.) 
Johannes       ....    [upder  Maurice]  (John  of  Nikiou, 

97)- 

[under  Maurice]  (John  of  Nikiou, 
97)- 

.    [under  Maurice]  (John  of  Nikiou, 
97)- 

.    [under  Maurice]  (John  of  Nikiou, 
97)  Paulus,  Diac.  xvii.). 


Paulus  . 
JohanneS;  //, 
Mcnas  . 


Theodorus 


639  (John  of  Nikiou,  11 1 ). 


NOTES. 

[rt]  The  grounds  for  supposing-  C.  Petronius  to  have  been  twice 
prefect  are  set  forth  in  Note  X.  App.  IV. 

[6]  Macro  was  only  nominated  as  prefect,  and  never  took  office. 

[c]  The  Oxyrhynchos  papyrus  shows  that  D.  G.  Hog-arth  was 
right  in  restoring  the  name  of  Mettius  Rufus  in  the  erasures  of  the 
two  Koptos  inscriptions  published  in  Petrie,  Koptos,  c.  vi. 


l82 


PREFECTS  OF  EGYPT 


[cPj  The  reason  g-iven  by  P.  Meyer  (Hermes,  xxxii.  p.  214)  for 
supposing-  an  otherwise  unknown  Dioscurus  to  have  been  prefect 
of  Egypt  in  105/6 — that  his  name  appears  with  that  of  an  architect 
on  a  stone  pedestal,  apparently  as  the  person  in  charge  of  the 
quarry  from  w^hich  the  stone  was  taken — is  hardly  worth  dis- 
cussion. 

[e]  Marcius  Turbo  was  titular  prefect  of  Egypt  only.  He  was 
placed  in  this  position  that  he  might  enjoy  the  special  privileges  it 
accorded,  w'hile  he  held  command  in  Dacia. 

[/"]  P.  Meyer  (Hermes,  xxxii.  p.  224)  has  shown  good  reasons 
for  supposing  Sempronius  Liberalis  to  have  been  the  prefect  men- 
tioned by  Malala  (Chronogr.  xi.  367)  as  killed  by  the  mob  in  the 
reign  of  Antoninus. 

[g-]  Volusius  Msecianus  is  dated  by  Pap.  B.M.  376,  compared 
with  B.G.U.  613:  see  Kenyon,  Catalogue  of  Greek  Papyri,  ii.  p. 
77.  A.  Stein  (Arch,  epigr.  Mittheilungen  aus  Oesterreich,  1896, 
p.  151,  and  Hermes,  xxxii.  p.  663)  had  already  arrived  at  virtually 
the  same  date. 

[/z]  As  to  the  dating  of  Bassseus  Rufus,  see  Meyer  (Hermes, 
xxxii.  p.  226). 

[i]  P.  Meyer  (Hermes,  xxxii.  p.  483)  is  probably  right  in  suppos- 
ing that  the  rescript  B.G.U.  15  II.  was  issued  by  Saturninus  as 
prefect. 

[k]  Flavins  Titianus  was,  according  to  Dio  Cassius  (Ixxvii.  21), 
a  procurator  only  ;  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  suppose  him  to  have 
been  prefect,  though  this  view  has  been  generally  taken.  See 
Note  XV.  App.  IV. 

[/]  A.  Stein  (Hermes,  xxxii.  p.  65)  is  here  follow^ed  in  placing- 
Celerinus  as  prefect  under  Carus. 

[w]  J.  P.  Mahaffy  (Athenaeum,  Feb.  27,  1897,  and  Cosmopolis, 
April  1897)  reads  the  name  of  the  prefect  on  "  Pompey's  pillar" 
as  Posidius. 


APPENDIX  III 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM 

The  following  inscriptions  are  all  in  the  Ghizeh 
Museum,  and  are,  for  the  most  part,  unpublished. 
Some  have  been  published,  but  are  in  periodicals  not 
readily  accessible  :  I  have  therefore  added  them  here. 
The  readings  given  are  from  my  own  copies  :  — 

tftCPKAl^APO  C  A  VTo  K  PA 

TCP<iceeoY6KceoY  h  oikoaomh 
YoYnepfSOAoVTO)  oecor  kaikypi 
oacoKNconAicjocff-ArATfO/eK/vefAOY . 

ft  O  Ae  CO  C  T  P  C  6  ^"fO  KTH  (VO  T-P  O  <P  H  N 
KAiTcoN  rY»v(A(K65/V  KAf 

C^H         CYXHIVL^  'kA»CAPOC<PAJ*A.IC 

'Twep  Kaiaapos  XvroKpa- 
Topos  deov  eK  deov  17  oiKo8op.-q 
Tov  irepi^oXov  Tip  deip  Kai  Kvpi- 
(p  'ZoKvoiraiu)  irapa  tui[i>]  iK  NetXof- 

TToXeWS  Trp0^aTOKTT}VOTpb(f){o}\v 

Kai  tQv  yvvaiKwy  Kai  tQv  t€kv- 

(jjv  evxw  (eVoi's)  r  Kaiaapos  ^ajxi^evud)  k' . 

A  stele  from  Dimeh  (Soknopaiou  Nesos),  with  a 
rough  relief  of  a  ram-headed  figure,  representing  the 

isa 


184        INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHI2EH  MUSEUM 

shepherds  of  Nilopolis,  adoring-  Sebek.    PubHshed  by 
F.  Krebs  in  transcript,  Zeitschrift  fur  ^gypt.  Sprache, 
xxxi.  p.  31.    See  fig.  87. 
Date  :  24  b.c,  March  16. 

a. 

(*)  YnEp'TI?EI»IOYKAJCAP'OCCeftACToY 

iCJAt  KA'APnoxp-ATHKAirrANfeediC 

iy\EnET<MC  TONne^(>l^AONrtAM£NIC 

rrA^Ge■N^cvKA(aA^Q£N(oc  Yfoc 

tHTf^EPlCY  KAlCAPOCCE^ACroY 

C«t«  rt  AH  I CKOY  ffTOAA  I  AO  C  Tt  rocTATHC  I C I  AOCeC)»CMer|CTfC 

(a)  'Tirep  Ti^epiov  Kaicrapos  'ZejSa.aTOv 
"laidi.  Kal  '  Apiro{K}pa.Tr]  Kal  Havi  Qeois 
fieytcrTOis  top  Trepi^okov  JldfievL^ . 
HapdevLov  Kal  Uapdevios  vios 
{^Tovs)  7]  TijiepLov  Kaicrapos  "Ze^darov. 

{b)"'ETOvs       ^ Apt (j3v LVOV  Kaicrapos  rod  Kvpiov  dvo  T(e)ix{v)  Kad{aLpedivTa) 

{w\Ko8ojULrjdTj 

iwl  llavicTKOV  11t6X\l8os  wpocrTdT{ov]  "latdos  6eds  /JLeyiarris. 

A  stele,  probably  from  Qus  (Apollinopolis  Parva)  (to 
judg"e  by  comparison  with  the  next  inscription),  with  ador- 
ation by  the  emperor  of  Isis  and  Harpokrates.  See  fig.  17. 

The  first  nscription  was  cut  in  20  21  ;  the  second, 
squeezed  in  at  the  bottom,  in  148  9. 

3; 

YHfePTl  (>€  P  IOVKAI  OAPOCC€:GacTX3V 

*-r H6fTeic> «"a  KfoMcoioe^o! A^e^lc^co/ 


\  Poc « ;  icCnAMNeojc  npocrATKOCi  a.oc 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM  185 

'Tirep  Ti^epiov  Katcrapos  2e/3d(T'Oi 
(erovs)  17]'  'E7ret0  la  K/ojj/y  dcu  fMeyiarq) 
ILapdepios  Ila/uLveco^  irpocTdrris  IcrtSos. 

A  stele  from  Qus  (Apollinopolis  Parva),  with  adora- 
tion by  the  emperor  ;  below,  an  inscription  in  demotic. 
Date  131,  July  5. 

4-  l-|ATf6£f»OYKAAYA.WYKA1CAfoC 


CCRACT-OY  rrPM  ANIKOV 
AYTOK^ATOPOC  XOIAK  S 


CTCTOYHTIOC  AP n A «C  < OC AN £0H KEN 


TOfC  A  I  OCKOPO/CY'TEPAYTOVEI  APAeoJ 

{irovs)  la  Ti^epiov  K\av8Lov  Kaicrapos 
1.e(3dcrTov  VepfiaviKOu 
AvTOKpdropos    Xota/c  s"' 
'Z,TOT6{v}7)ri{o}s  ' ApTrarjaios  dvedijKev 
Tots  AioaKopois  virep  avroO  ^{tt}'  dyada 

A  stele  in  form  of  a  pylon,  from  Dimeh  (Soknopaiou 
Nesos)  ;  the  inscription  is  at  the  foot. 
Date  :  50,  Dec.  2. 


J. 

AOYLIOC  W/////  KAAYAJOaiAYCA 


N  <ACTPATH  r<0»APC»NoeiTTOY 


XAI  PE"»  N  TOYfTOrerPA  M  MEKOIM 

EK©e/v\AnpoeEceNoicKAeHicEi 
roYNo^voYTomaictNAnANTE  t: 


1/a.COCCTAYrt  eMOVKEAEVOMENA 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM 


AovKioc  Aorcroc/////////////'  Aerei 
AC  roNTBc  ei  c  newPT  ( ACAre  ceA  I 

TOYTOYC  ^vlC^^  AflO  AY  CO »  TAN 

A  6T<  c  c  =  e-A  £  r  xe  « ( TA  vrr  EM  O  Y 

AflAS  KCKPirvi  eMAKnPOCTA 
xeeNTAKeiNHCACHSOYAHeefC 
AMOISOAAfTO/HCAl  kATA  IAN 
H  AP  TYPIKWC  H  CiOMArr  K^kJC' 
kOAACeKC^AI  l-/^-pie£p/oy 

k  AAYArorKAlCAPOC  CCBACTOY 

''£'?<vt'Ar>f/KoY  AYroKPATtoPoc 

<PAr<vtove»     I ' 

Aoi/(rtos  [eTrapxos]  KXai'Stw  Afcra- 
via  crTpaTr'iyip  ' ApcrLPoeiTov 
Xaipeiv.     To  viroyeypa/j.fjLevoi' 
eKdefia  irpjdes  eV  ots  KadrjKec 

TOV   VOp-OV  TOWOLS,    'ivO.  TOLVTeS 

Ld(j:cn  TCI  inr'  efMOU  KeXevltfiepa' 

\ovklos  Aovctlos  [eirapxos]  Xeyec' 
eweL  Wpaivoeirov  icpch  Oeou 
loKUoiraLou  eueTvxov  p-OL 
XeyouTcs  els  yewpyias  dyeadai, 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM  187 


TOVTOvs  ficv  airoKvu}'  iav 

ctTra^  KCKpLfxeva  vpoara- 
Xdevra  /v{e}-ti'T7cras  ?)  8ov\rj9€is 
dfx<pi(io\a  TroLrjaai  Kara  vdu, 
7)  dpyvfjLKws  r)  crw^art/cws 
KoXaadrjcreTai.    {"Etovs)  id'  ^i^epiov 
KXai'Stoi;  Y^aicrapos  "ZefidaTov 
TepfxavLKOu  AvTOKpdropos, 
^apfiovdi  I. 

A  limestone  slab  from  the  Fayum,  carefully  cut. 
The  word  following  the  name  Lusius  has  been  erased 
in  11.  I  and  8  ;  it  was  probably  a  title,  and  that  of 
€7rap)(o<s  fits  the  erasure.  The  only  other  official  who 
could  have  issued  such  a  rescript  was  the  epistrategos, 
and  his  title  is  too  long  for  the  lacuna. 

Date  :  54,  April  5. 

(>■ 

^  O  KP  ATO  P  00  TITOY  K  A  I  C/H  I  w 

.^vec  ffAci  Am  o  Y  ce  6  ACTOV  KA  I  ^ 
•////////////////////  KAICAPOC        KAl  TC' 
nANTOCAVTiXN  01  KOY      TIKAA  i 
AnoAXilv/ AP10CK.YPINA  AlA<pPO; 
TOY  ffATPOC-  ri.  KMYAJOY^HOMOV 

'Twep  AvT]oKpdTopos  TLtov  KaLaapo[s 

Ov€(nraaLdpov  1,€j3daT0v  /cat 

[AofjLiTidvov]  Kaiaapos  /cat  to[v 

iravTOS  avrCov  oikov  TL{^epLOz)  KXa[(/5tos 

^AiroXKLvdpLOS  Kvpiva,  did  (ppo\vTi(r- 

Tov  Trarpbs  TtfjSepioi')  KXavdiov  Xp7)aip.ov  [dvedrjKe  ? 

'AttoWcDj/i  dec^  /j-eyicTTU)  /cat  rots  [avvvdois  deois' 

A  block,  broken  at  edges  :   provenance  not  stated. 
In  line  3  the  name  of  Domitian  has  been  erased. 
Date,  79/81. 


i88        IXSCRIPTIOXS  IX  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM 
7. 

N£XOYBMC/T  exe  /V/  O  VH.i  j.i  AN  €  e  M         CTH  AMN « C/  ilOCe€AC 

AAferiCTHC  rTA^YPA-C.  (_7b   TPA  f  A  NOY  TOY  K  V. 

Nexoi'/????  TTereAtou  ....  aveOriKev  aTrjXrjv  "IcrtSos  ^eas 
fxeyiaTTjs  Iladvpds  {erovs)  l^'  'Ypaiduou  rov  Kvp[Lov. 

A  stele  from  Gebelcn  (Pathyra). 
Date:  108/9. 
3- 


VTO  K  P  ATO  pOCKA  I POO \ 

j©  I  KoYrePMA  fNf  ( KoYMencror 
(C:)     M  e  TAA  M  TYy  H I  uy'    \o  ! 


pet 


NecOeHKAl  €KOCMHeH.; 

I 

imoYIKT£0«NOYlTn  AeH 
.'rAAAlKHCKAIAIAAYP/  K- 

w  C- A  r !  TT Ap  I  CO  Al  T  H  rr  P£> 

60C  Aer  .  -  TAAAKAI  TAmtVOY  I  <Ni>^  60  CA6r 

A.  lAAYPIKHC  KAI  AXJZOY  lePeCoCtNY 

aAT<A,A(KI/\J<VfOVCe6'  TO  S''  K^lAlK/M»OY 

i  :  >  »<DKAlCAPOCT05MHf^OC    AOJOY  A 
kAltf       ANNOY...  I  <   KAI  Ai:^PPOC3KAI 

nrp/ 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM  189 


(a)  'Tirep  'Ajuro/cpdros  KatVapos  [Tpaidvov 

,  .  llap]6LK0v  Yep/maPLKou  MeyicrTOv  [,  .  . 

(b)  MeydXr)  tvx'-J  rod  [•  .  .]  o[  

t]Qv  d{7}7eAct;^  t7}[.  .  .]p€i[  

i]v€U}97]  Kal  eKocrii.rjOrjl  

i]Tri  OvLKTwpLvov  'ir{pa.L)ir{o(x'iTOv)  "Key^eoivtjov 

7']  VaWLKrjt  Kal  a  'lXKvpLK[r]S  

?  TU}]v  aayiTTapiciov  rrj  Trpo^voia  (?)  ]w 

•  Jaros  dpxi(p^(^s  Kai  xa[  'Jfpf- 

ws  \€y(€(>}vos)  y  raXX(t/c77s)  Kal  Yardvov  [[epejws  Xe7(ewj'os) 

a'  ^\\\vpLKy\%  Kal  'Aftfou  iepeojs,  iv  v- 

iraTLa  Kiklvv'lov  'Z€^{d(XTOv)  to  s*'  Kal  i\.iKiv[i/]iov 

.  .  .  Kaiaapos  to        ixrjvos  Awov  a'' 

Kal  e[7rl  -]avvoii[.  .  .]Kai  [.  .  .]  dpxiiepeuv)  Kal 

 M  

A  block  from  Assuan  (Syene),  originally  part  of  an 
architrave  ;  subsequently  turned  over  and  re-used. 

With  the  second  inscription  should  be  compared  the 
inscription  from  Koptos  published  in  Recueil  de  Travaux, 
xvi.  44,  No.  xcv.,  which  was  set  up  for  the  safety  of  the 
same  leg-ions — iii  Gallica  and  i  Illyrica— under  the  com- 
mand of  Victorinus. 

Date:  original  inscription,  116/7;  second,  323. 

VfrerfrHCAYToKPATO  roCKA  I CA  POC  ri  TDV 


CYCeaoYCTYXHCAPrroXf  ATHI  06COI 

MencTij:  Te/xMTfrepiBOA<rrrrAAA«ai 

eeNr.5.KA6H P^r. 5H KAJ  OIKO  AO  H 
em  rrAN( CKOYfTTOAA  f AOCrrPOCTT^TOr'OA 

KAfCAPOCTOYKV^iOY  OAfMOVei 


^Twep  TT]^  AvTOKpaTopos  Kaiaapos  Ttrou 
AiXiov  '  A8pidvov  ' kvrwv'ivov  ^e{^]daTOv. 


190        INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM 


Ei)cre/3oCs  Ti'X'»7S  'Ap7ro{\'}pdr77  6eu 
fieyia-TU)  reixv  rod  irepif^oXov  TraXatw- 
devra  KadTjpedrj  Kai  {oi\Kodo,ur)dr) 
iirl  llauiaKOV  IXruXXtSos  wpoaTaTOv  "Icrt5[os 
deds  fJLeyiaTrjs'  erovs  i/i'  \\vtu}uli'[ov 
Kaicrapos  rod  Kvpiov  ^apixovdi  k[  ? 

A  stele,  probably  from  Qus  (Apollinopolis  Parva). 
Compare  Nos.  2,  3,  and  11. 
Date:  149,  April  i5(?). 
to 


Tib  iova/oc  fKf\ei^NLpoc 
rtf^fM^tNoc  ectAfxoCoreiPHC  'A 

cpA  A  on  ACTWN  A  r::  |  V::  'iOMH  KOTWN 

oen  { TMoev©  YNiAC-  w  byfam  ivwtdc 

LKA  A>TOKPATDPOa;AfCArocnrDYA/A(Or 

wecoprt   emroMeNeoN  ■  r 

Qea  ixeyLa-TTj  "  IcrtSt  IlXoi'crta 
TL(i{€pLOs)  'IovXlos  \\\e^av8pos, 
yevdfxevos  eirapxos  (XTreiprjs  a 
4'Xaoi'tas,  rcDz'  dyopauo/j-riKOTOju, 
6  iirl  rri<s  €vd['r]\vias  rod  /3'  ypd/mfiaros, 
Tov  dvbplavra  aw  rrj  ^idaei  uveOrjKe 
(erovs  Ka'  AvroKpdTopos  Kaicrapos  Tirou  AiXiov 
' Abpidvov  ^ AvT(ji}v{e]ivov  'Le^darov  Kvcre^ovs 
Meaopr)  iirayofxevoiv  y . 

Base  of  a  statue,  from  Alexandria.  Published  by 
N^routsos  Bey,  Bulletino  dell'  Instituto  Egiziano, 
xii.  p.  77. 

Date  :  158,  Aug.  26. 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM  191 
AYTOKP  ATOPOC  KA  <  CAPOCTI 

noAAcaoc  rr''  "\AjufiaL 


AiTOKpdropos  KatVapos  Ti[Tov 
AiXLov  'ASpidvov  ' Avtwv'ivov 

"Advp  Ka.     erri  IlaviaKov 
TL{t]6X\i8os  Tr[poaT]dTov  "latdlos 
Beds  [/xeyiaTTjs  /cat  '  Ap]7ro/c{p}d[TOu 


Stele,  probably  from  Qus  (x\pollinopolis  Parva),  with 
bas-relief  of  emperor  adoring-  Isis.  Compare  Nos.  2, 
3,  and  9. 

Date :  Nov.  17,  in  same  year  of  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius. 

YT0KPAT0P0CM/\PK0YAYP(fAIOYC60YHPOY; 

iwTrONiNovevTYxoYc  6YceBovc ceBAcroY  ; 

^A»(flYAJ/V^OMWM(U£5ACTHCNlH7?0CANe/KHTlO»V 
'7AT0fTC/UX3f/a:/rtNflCAAe5ANAPOYnA/V7APXWaci 

^C0»V16e/T&)»^rT0A€<U<^YCE66fACXAP//>fANe«tfKeN 

1 

,H/vrAecoi€TeK5*  OAp/vrovefeA/ATH 


A^vTOKpdropos  MdpKov  AvpTjXiov  'Zeovrjpov 
'A^vTOJviuov  YiVTVxovs  Evcrel^ovs  "Zejidarov 


192        INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  iMUSEUM 


crrJparoTreSwj'  1.€pT]uos  ' AXe^dvdpov  iravrapxria-as 
t]^s  'O/x^eiTwv  Tr6\eu}S  evae^eias  xapt^  dvedrjKev 
^]7r'  dyadi^,  ^ret  k^'  (papfioddL  evdrrj. 

Probably  from  Ombos  ;  a  block  of  stone,  apparently 
used  as  a  door-lintel,  broken  to  left. 
Date:  214,  March  4. 

G> .  /.  To  tee  \rYxtCT/\To  ick/m i 

3y  KYP<OYHM£ON  A  VTOK  PATOPo\ 

/'  \ 

M  A  PKovAvpH  Af  OVA  tirdiNemoY 
€\TyxcrctrceBorccepACToY 
i^tccFH    K  am 

rtMfNfCOXPHCTWeffAfXWAffWW 

KAr  0  YAAe  f  I OY  A  noA  I N  APidrcnrrm 

rrOYOPOYC  MAYPMArOCAnOAAO) 
N 1 0  CTO  NKH  rroN  eKeCMCA  tOYAN  O) 

<PY-rO  (CeflOfHCeNeKTOYIAKTY 

t  n  ^  TA Gcof 

t]oO  Kvpiov  i]ixu>v  AvTOKpdTopo[s 
'SldpKou  AvprjXiov  'AvTOji'{€\ivov 
EvTVXOvs  Evaejiovs  'Ze^darov 
(erovs)  /5'  Mecropr]  k,  errl 
TejjLLv'L{ov]  Xp?7(jr{oi'}  iTrdpx{ov\  AiyviTTOV 
Kai  OvaXepiov  ' ATroX{X}iuapiov  ewiTpo- 
TTOV  opovs,  M(dp\'Os)  AvprjXios  'AttoWu) 
pios  TOP  Krjirov  €K  dejJLeXiov  dvip- 
Ko86/j.r]aev  Kai  i'^wypdcprjcrev  aw  tols 
(pvTOLS'  iiroLrjaev  iK  rod  idiov 
irr'  dyad(2. 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM  193 

A  slab  of  limestone,  roughly  cut  ;  provenance  un- 
known. 

Date  :  219,  Aug.  i  j. 

CYNTb/CT€K/SOlCK:Tol  C 

/A/ofCYn^PI^YXAPicriAC 

AN£eKK€N  £nArA06c) 
€To YCroY A A€  PlANoY 
K  r.4A  AfHiJoY  <a6&^ 

Alup^Xios  'laidojpo^ 

aw  TOls  T€KV01S  K{al)  TOIS 

idioLS  virep  evxapLarias 

€TOvs  y  OvaXepidvov 
K{ai)  Ta\\n)vov  'Ze^{daT(jjv) 
^leabpri  6\ 

A  round  block,  perhaps  base  of  a  statue,  from 
Alexandria. 

Date :  256,  Aug.  2 

'5 

jyi  I  AN  iv  -  f  x  r— <riX'X'6  eove^AHCANTOCKAl 
TOY  X  PICTOYAYTOVeai  THC  RANe  YA  A I  MON  OC 

BACi  A6  f  ACTcONTAn  ANTANe  f  Ka)^^ra)NAec^o7^oN 

H  M  CON  O  Y  A  A  e       IN  f  A  N  0  Y  K  A  /  0  YA  A  e/VTO  C 
KA /  rPAT  ( ANOYTCON A/ CO r^(WNAV TOY  CT CON 


6 NTH  6  YTY  X eCTATH  A  YTCO^  A  eKA  6 TH  P I  Afrf  TerpA 

V— 13 


194       INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM 


n  Y/\oNena)NY/vio'vroYe  eiciKvcn  sac  lAeojCH  mowo  YAAeNTOc 


A A/x ^;  oYAon  CTfcYoNTDCKA I  em M eNO Y 


rajKTicearnT6TTAnYAa}<i>AAoY/oY 


KYPOYfTOMT6Y0MeN0Y  eRAPAeiO 

T]ou  naj'[roA:pdTop]os  (7eoO  deXrjcrduTos  Kal 

Tov  XpidTOv  avTov  €7rl  TTjs  Travevbaijxovos 

^acLKeLas  tQu  rd  iravra  i'{e\i.KLbuTOJi'  dearroTwv 

i]/j.u}u  OvakevTLVLCLVov  Kal  OvaXevros 

Kal  Tparidvov  tCjv  alwvLwv  Avyovarcov, 

ip  TTj  evrvx^araTrj  avTuiv  56/caer77pt5{e}t,  rerpd- 

irvKov  iirdbvvfxov  tov  BeLOTdrov  ^aaCKem  riixQiv  OuaXeVros 

iK  deixeXiwv  iKriaOr],  iirl  rrjs  iirdpxv^  tov  KvpLov 

Xafxirpordrov  iwdpxov  Aiyvirrov  AlXlov 

llaXXadiov,  XoyLcrrevovTOS  Kal  iirLKeifievo 

T<2  KTiadivTL  TerpairvXaj  'PXaoviov 

ls.vpov  TToXLTevo/jieuov  iir'  dyaOcp. 

Inscribed  on  a  XXVIth  dynasty  altar  from  Athribis. 
Published  in  R.A.  1847,  15th  Aug. 
Date:  374. 

A  N  T  I  N  O  I 


6(1  (  0A  I 


<P  6  I  Zl  O  C.  A  KY  A  A  C 


e  n  I  OT  p  /\  T  H  r  o  c- 


©  H  B  A  r  ^  o  c 

'AVTLVOU} 

'EiricpdveL 
4^€l8os  'A/v('\as 
'  Etc  laTpaTi-jyo^ 
QTjfSaido^. 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  GHIZEH  MUSEUM  195 

A  granite  altar  from  Sheikh-Abadeh  (AntinoopoHs). 
Date :    probably  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century, 

IC  ■  (r  TOVC-rHCYqJHAfOJrHCAYTOKPA 

■R)  PA  C  KA  J  TPOn  AlOYXOYCAeCfTOTAt: 
H  M  60N  O  YA  Aef^rri  N  f  AN  O  N  <D6  O  A  O  C(0  fM 
Ar  KA/V.»ONTOYCA»aJNIOYC  AmSYP 
rOYCK/M<PAAYfON  ONaJP(ONTONJ 
€  ft  I  <I3A  NeCTATON  ip  ffU///t/ff//iff///' 
'X^Jlt  ////O  COAAMnpOTATOCt  nAPXOC 
rOY<  nrAITCOP  (O  YTHCYrvJ  H6e< 

KA  00a  OJCe  f  A<P  1 6  P£OCe  I  e  n  I KAAYA  lOY 
CennMIOY6YTPO(T10YTOYAAM  nPOTATOY 

HP&MONOC 

'  ToOs  T^s  i!'0'  ^Xt'w  7775  avTOKpa- 

Topas  Kai  TpoiraLOvxovs  decnroras 
TjixCjv  OvaXevTLviavov  Qeodoatov 
'ApKadiov  Tovs  aiioviovs  avrovp- 
yovs  Kai  ^\a[o^viou  'Oudopiou  top 

iTTKpapeaTaTOU  

 6  Xa/JLTTpoTaros  eirapxos 

Tov  iepou  TrpaiTcopiov  ry  a-vvrjdei 
Kadoaubcret  d(pLepu}creL  eirl  \^\avbLov 

'Le-TTTLIxioV   'EvrpOlTLOV  TOV  XajbLTrpOTOLTOV 

7]yefJLOVos. 


Inscribed  on  the  back  of  the  altar,  16  a. 
Date  :  between  384  and  392. 


APPENDIX  IV 


NOTES 

Note  I.  — Position  of  the  Archidikastes. 

The  office  of  archidikastes  was  one  which  existed 
under  the  Ptolemies,  when  he  was  president  of  the 
chrematistai,  or  circuit  judges  ;  and  Strabo  (xvii.  i.  12) 
definitely  states  that  the  Ptolemaic  archidikastes  was 
continued  as  a  Roman  official.  At  the  same  time  he 
describes  him  as  a  local  Alexandrian  judge  ;  and,  to 
meet  the  difficulty  thus  created,  Mommsen  (Roman 
Provinces,  vol.  ii.  p.  247,  note  i,  English  trans.) 
supposes  that  the  Alexandrian  archidikastes  was  dis- 
tinct from  the  president  of  the  chrematistai,  and  that 
the  latter  had  perhaps  been  set  aside  before  the  Roman 
period.  This  supposition,  however,  is  met  by  the  refer- 
ences to  the  archidikastes  in  papyri  as  7rp6<s  t-t}  i-n-LfxeXeia 
Twv  ^prjixaTia-rCju  Kal  rwu  aWwv  KpiTrjpLwv  (B.G.  U.  455,  614), 
which  shows  that  the  Roman  officer  was  the  successor, 
in  title,  at  any  rate,  of  the  Ptolemaic  archidikastes  for 
the  whole  of  Egypt. 

The  situation,  however,  was  complicated  by  the  fact 
that  the  chrematistai  had  been  abolished  by  the  Romans, 
and  the  circuits  were  held  by  the  prefect  and  dikalodotes 
in  their  stead.  Both  these  officials  were  superior  in 
rank  to  the  Roman  archidikastes  ;  and  consequently  his 
original  duty  of  revising  the  decisions  of  the  judges  on 
circuit  necessarily  elapsed,  as  there  could  be  no  appeal 
from  a  superior  to  an  inferior. 

There  are  several  references  in  the  published  papyri 

196 


THE  ARCHIDIKASTES 


197 


to  the  archidikastes  and  his  functions  ;  and  a  brief 
summary  of  these  may  assist  in  clearing-  up  his  position 
in  Roman  times. 

B.G.U.  73.  A  letter  from  the  archidikastes  to  the 
strategos  of  the  Herakleid  division  of  the  Arsinoite 
nome,  enclosing  a  document,  the  character  of  which  is 
not  specified,  for  deposit  in  the  local  archives  by  their 
keepers. 

B.G.U.  136.  A  note  of  the  entry  of  an  action,  relative 
to  the  administration  of  the  property  of  a  minor  by  her 
guardians,  before  the  archidikastes  at  Memphis  ;  the 
action  was  referred  by  him  to  the  local  strategos  for 
trial. 

B.G.U.  241.  A  document  sent  from  Karanis  in  the 
Arsinoite  nome  to  the  archidikastes,  stating  the  division 
made  by  two  sons  of  property  left  by  their  father. 

B.G.U.  455.  A  letter  to  the  archidikastes,  conveying 
the  acknowledgment  of  the  sale  of  a  certain  piece  of 
land  to  the  writer,  a  legionary. 

B.G.U.  578.  A  letter  from  the  archidikastes  to  the 
strategos  of  the  Herakleid  division  of  the  Arsinoite 
nome,  conveying  a  copy  of  a  petition,  enclosing  the 
formal  acknowledgment  of  a  loan,  which  had  not  been 
repaid  ;  the  lender  therefore  wished  copies  of  the 
documents  to  be  filed  in  both  archives  {i.e.  presumably 
at  Alexandria,  and  in  the  nome),  and  the  strategos  to 
inform  the  borrower  of  this  step,  which  was  the  pre- 
liminary to  an  action  for  recovery  of  the  money  ;  the 
archidikastes  accordingly  sent  the  copy  for  the  local 
archives,  and  directed  the  strategos  to  inform  the  bor- 
rower that  it  had  been  filed. 

B.G.U.  614.  Copies  of  documents  in  a  suit,  begin- 
ning with  a  petition  to  the  prefect,  relative  to  an  action 
for  the  recovery  of  a  loan  ;  after  the  suit  had  been 
authorized  by  the  prefect,  the  plaintiff,  a  soldier,  applied 
to  the  archidikastes,  setting  forth  that  he  was  unable, 
on  account  of  his  military  duties,  to  visit  the  place 
where  the  defendants  resided,  and  therefore  wished 
them  to  be  summoned  before  the  archidikastes.  The 
archidikastes,  as  a  necessary  preliminary,  ordered  copies 


NOTES 


of  the  plaints  to  be  delivered  to  the  defendants  ;  and 
the  plaintiff  asked  the  archidikastes  to  write  to  the 
strategos  of  the  Herakleid  district  of  the  Arsinoite 
nonie  and  enclose  copies  for  delivery. 

B.G.U.  729.  An  acknowledg-ment,  addressed  to  the 
archidikastes,  by  a  soldier,  of  the  deposit  with  him  of 
certain  articles. 

B.G.U.  741.  A  copy  of  an  acknowledgrnent,  addressed 
to  the  archidikastes,  of  a  loan  on  the  security  of  property 
in  the  Arsinoite  nome,  from  one  soldier  to  another. 

These  cases,  taken  with  B.G.U.  455  and  614,  suggest 
that  the  court  of  the  archidikastes  at  Alexandria  was 
the  most  convenient  place  for  the  deposit  of  agreements 
to  which  soldiers  were  parties :  as  their  military  duties 
would  be  apt  to  take  them  away  from  the  place  at 
which  the  agreement  was  concluded. 

G.G.P.  ii.  71.  An  authorisation  from  parties  con- 
cerned, to  a  man,  to  prove  a  will  from  Kysis  in  the 
Great  Oasis  before  the  archidikastes  at  Alexandria. 

R.E.G.  1894,  vii.  p.  301,  No.  I.  An  authorisation 
from  the  parties  concerned,  to  a  man,  to  present  to  the 
archidikastes  at  Alexandria  documents  relative  to  the 
cession  of  a  share  in  a  certain  business  at  Kysis  in  the 
Great  Oasis. 

R.E.G.  1894,  vii.  p.  302,  No.  III.    Similar  to  last. 

G.  O.  P.  i.  34^.  An  order  for  the  deposit  of  the  records 
of  the  SiaXoyr]  tu)V  Kara  Kaipov  dp^iSiKacrrcov  in  the  archives 
at  Alexandria. 

The  first  point  to  be  decided  with  reference  to  the 
archidikastes  is,  whether  he  sat  at  Alexandria  only,  or 
travelled  round  the  nomes.  The  three  documents  from 
the  Great  Oasis  are  clearly  on  the  side  of  the  former 
alternative  ;  and.  there  is  nothing  against  it  in  the  other 
papyri,  except  in  B.G.U.  136.  It  is  important,  however, 
to  notice  that  in  this  case,  in  which  alone  the  archi- 
dikastes is  found  with  certainty  sitting  elsewhere  than 
at  Alexandria,  the  court  was  held  at  Memphis  ;  and  F. 
Krebs  (Philologus,  liii.  p.  577  ff.)  has  pointed  out  that 
the  high  priest  of  all  Egypt  similarly  appears  as  sitting 
at  Alexandria  and  Memphis.    Further,  the  terms  of  the 


THE  ARCHIDIKASTES 


199 


petitions  in  B.G.U.  578  and  614,  both  relating  to  places 
in  the  Fayum,  show  that  the  archidikastes  held  his  court 
somewhere  outside  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  these 
places  ;  which  would  hardly  apply  to  Memphis,  only 
a  day's  journey  away  from  the  Fayum.  There  is  also 
a  small  point  to  be  noted  in  the  terms  of  B.G.U.  73, 
which  seems  to  show  an  ignorance  of  local  circum- 
stances ;  the  archidikastes  writes  to  Archias,  who  is 
known  from  G.G.P.  ii.  45  to  have  been  strategos  of  the 
Herakleid  division  of  the  Arsinoite  nome,  addressing 
him  as  strategos  of  the  Arsinoite  nome ;  which  he 
would  hardly  have  done,  if  he  had  visited  the  nome  and 
learned  its  peculiar  division  into  districts.  And  the 
reference  in  G.O.P.  i.  34  to  the  SiaXoyrj  of  the  archi- 
dikastes does  not  imply  that  he  went  on  circuit.  On  the 
whole,  the  evidence  seems  to  show  that  the  archidikastes 
sat  at  Alexandria,  possibly  with  power  to  remove  his 
court  to  Memphis.  It  may  be  remarked  that  there  is 
no  authority  for  the  completion  of  the  lacuna  in  B.G.U. 
614,  1.  7,  as  tep[eus  Kal  ap)^L8iKa(TTr]<i  r^s  tov  'A/ocrtvotJrov 
'HpaK\^u8ov  /itcpiSo?,  so  far  as  I  can  see. 

What  the  precise  duties  of  the  archidikastes  were, 
do  not  appear  very  clearly.  He  seems  to  have  had  a 
special  charge  of  the  archives  at  Alexandria,  in  which 
copies  of  all  documents  deposited  in  the  various  local 
archives  throughout  the  country  had  also  to  be  placed 
(G.O.P.  i.  34)  ;  this  function  is  shown  by  the  three 
Oasis  papyri,  which  refer  to  various  documents  to  be 
presented  to  him  ;  and  the  cases  in  B.G.U.  241  and  455 
appear  to  be  similar. 

The  three  instances  in  which  the  archidikastes  appears 
as  a  judge  are  all  civil  cases,  and  in  all  three  there  is 
no  reference  to  any  delegation  of  authority  to  him 
from  the  prefect,  which  shows  that  he  was  legally  com- 
petent to  try  such  suits.  The  circumstances  under 
which  the  suits  were  brought  before  him,  rather  than 
before  the  prefect  or  dikaiodotes  on  circuit,  are  shown 
by  B.G.U.  614,  wherein  the  plaintiff  desired  the  de- 
fendants to  be  summoned  before  the  archidikastes, 
presumably  at  Alexandria,  because  he  himself  was  a 


2O0 


NOTES 


soldier,  and  therefore  unable  to  go  to  the  local  court. 
In  B.G.U.  578,  also,  the  plaintiff  was  a  citizen  of 
Antinoe,  while  the  defendant  resided  in  the  Fayum  ; 
and  possibly  it  was  more  convenient  for  him  to  go 
to  Alexandria,  where  copies  of  the  documents  pre- 
served in  the  archives  of  both  his  own  district  and  the 
defendant's  would  be  at  hand,  than  to  visit  the  Fayum 
and  bring"  his  case  before  the  circuit  judges,  only  to 
find  that  he  had  to  send  back  to  Antinoe  for  some 
written  evidence. 

It  may  be  concluded  that  the  archidikastes  sat  at 
Alexandria  as  a  permanent  judge,  before  whom  the 
plaintiff,  and  probably  the  defendant  also,  in  any  civil 
case,  both  parties  to  which  did  not  reside  in  the  same 
district,  could  elect  to  have  their  dispute  tried. 

The  instance  of  the  archidikastes  holding  his  court  at 
Memphis  must  be  left,  until  further  evidence  as  to  the 
reason  for  his  presence  there  is  discovered.  B.G.U. 
136  unfortunately  only  contains  the  official  notes  of  the 
trial,  which  gave,  no  doubt,  all  necessary  particulars  at 
the  time,  but  are  not  full  enough  to  show  any  reason  why 
there  should,  in  this  case,  be  an  apparent  departure  from 
the  usual  rule  as  to  the  duties  of  the  archidikastes. 

Note  II. — Strategoi  and  Royal  Scribes  of  the 
Herakleid  Division  of  the  Arsinoite  Nome. 

The  exceptionally  large  proportion  of  the  papyri  hither- 
to published  which  come  from  sites  in  the  Herakleid 
division  of  the  Arsinoite  nome,  furnish  a  fairly  complete 
list  of  the  strategoi  and  royal  scribes  for  that  division, 
at  any  rate  during  the  second  century.  A  catalogue 
of  the  known  names  and  dates  may  therefore  serve 
usefully  to  illustrate  the  tenure  of  these  appointments. 


Oiax 

[Dionysodorus  (a) 
[Claudius  Lysanius  (a) 
[G.  Julius  Asinianus  (a) 


Name. 


STRATEGOI. 

Date. 
19th  Nov.  1 1 
14/15 


Pap.  B.M.  357.] 
App.  III.  5.] 
B.G.U.  181.] 


Pap.  B.M.  2561^6. 


Reference. 


5th  April  54 
15th  June  57 


STRATEOOI  AND  ROYAL  vSCRIBES 


201 


Name. 

Ti.  Claudius  Areius 

Asclepiades 

(Sara)pion 

Protarchus 

Arch  las 

Veg-etus  Sarapion 

Claudius  Cerealis 
Apollinaris 

^lius  Sarapion 
Archibius 

Maximus  Nearchus 

[Herakleides  (b) 
Theodorus 

Hierax 


Stcphanus 
^lius  Eudsemon 


[Serenus  (b) 

[Alexander  (c) 
Sarapion 


Potamon 


Flavius  Apollonius 

Apollonius 
Ptolemaius 

Ammonius 
Dioscorus 
Didymus 

Artemidorus 

[Philoxenus  (d) 
Hierax  Nemesion 


Date. 

{26th  Feb.  99 
before  14th  July 
lOI 

9th  Jan.  108 
1st  April  1 14 
22nd  Aug:.  130 
/  20th  June  135 
\  28th  Jan.  136 
29th  Jan.  137 

15th  Feb.  139 
Jan.  141 

r  31st  Jan.  143 

\  144/5 

26th  Jan.  146 
[  3rd  May  146 
\  146/7 

I  24th  July  147 
30th  Jan.  151 
14th  Feb.  159 

{  159/60 
J  28th  Jan.  161 

I  28th  July  161 

V  28th  Jan.  162 
29th  Jan.  163 
before  loth  Aug;. 
169 

/  loth  Aug".  169 
\  26th  Nov.  169 
iith  April  170 
3rd  Oct.  170  (e) 

{173/4 
26th  Nov.  174 
174/5 
Aug.  175 
f  28th  Oct.  177 
Uan.-Feb.  179 
26th  May  184 
between  180  and 

193 
188/9 

17th  Aug-.  190 
22nd  Feb.  191 
/  19th  May  193 
\  26lh  July  194 
17th  Sept.  194 
between  194  and 


Reference. 
B.G.U.  226. 
G.G.P.  ii.  44. 

B.G.U.  163. 
B.G.U.  22. 
B.G.U.  647. 
B.G.U.  73. 
G.G.P.  ii.  4V 
B.G.U.  352; 

G.G.P.  ii.  45a. 
G.G.P.  ii.  46a. 
B.G.U.  353,  354, 

355»  357- 
B.G.U.  51. 
B.G.U.  52,  133. 
Pap.  B.M.  309. 
Pap.  Gen.  6. 
B.G.U.  137. 
B.G.U.  95. 
B.G.U.  358.] 
Pap.  B.M.  376. 
B.G.U.  16,239,524. 
B.G.U.  629. 
B.G.U.  224,  410. 
Pap.  B.M.  327. 
Pap.  B.M.  328. 
B.G.U.  168. 

B.G.U.  18. 


B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 


168.1 

347-] 

347- 

598. 

26. 

59- 
55) 


B.G.U.  194. 
Pap.  B.M.  368. 
B.G.U.  361,  ii. 
B.G.U.  242. 


B.G.U.  430. 
B.G.U.  432. 
B.G.U.  72. 
B.G.U.  15. 
B.G.U.  46. 
B.G.U.  199R. 
G.G.P.  ii.  61 


202 


NOTES 


Name. 


Date 


Demetrii 


99 
99 


Ag-athos  Daemon 


Dionysius 

Apollophanes  Sarapaninion 
Aur.  Hierax  Animonius 


Aur.  Dionysius 

Aur.  Didymus 

[Aur.  Herakleides  (a) 


(  7th  March  I 
I  loth  Oct.  19 

\25th  June  200 
25th  Feb.  202 
(  2 1st  April  202 
J  202/3 

I  23rd  June  203 
i.6th  Oct.  203 
f  loth  Nov.  207 
\  207/8 

23rd  Jan.  209 
Ma}'-June  213 

{7th  Nov.  216 
216/7 
24th  Feb.  217 
7th  April  217 
{  8th  Oct.  222 
\  April- May  225 
[  May-June  225 
between  257  and 
261 


Reference. 
Pap.  B.M.  474 
B.G.U.  41. 
B.G.U.  25. 
B.G.U.  139. 
B.G.U.  577. 
B.G.U.  97. 
B.G.U.  663. 
B.G.U.  203. 
B.G.U.  652. 
B.G.U.  392, 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U. 
B.G.U 
B.G.U.  64. 
B.G.U.  614. 
B.G.U.  35. 
B.G.U.  42. 
Pap.  B.M.  176. 
B.G.U.  244.] 


653- 


2. 

145- 
534- 
266. 


(a)  Strategoi  of  the  whole  Arsinoite  nome. 

(b)  Royal  scribes  acting-  for  the  strategos. 

(c)  Gymnasiarch  acting  for  the  strategos. 

(d)  Strategos  of  divisions  of  Themistos  and  Polemon  acting 

for  the  division  of  Herakleides  also. 

(e)  See  as  to  this  date  in  Note  III. 


Name. 

Asclepiades 
Evangc4us 

Claudius  Julianus 
Herminus 


Sarapion 


Heracleides 


ROYAL  SCRIBES. 

Daie. 

19th  Nov.  1 1 

before  76 
/  14th  July  loi 
\  2ist  Dec.  1 01 
{  29th  Jan.  137 


i  July  138 

/-Jan.  141 
30th  Jan.  141 
June-July  142 
Jan. -Feb.  143 
31st  Jan.  144 

^ 144/5 

{28th  Jan.  146 
24th  July  147 
30th  Jan.  151 


Reference. 
Pap.  B.M.  256 i^e. 
B.G.U.  583. 
G.G.P.  XX.  44. 
Pap.  B.M.  173. 
B.G.U.  352;  G.G.P. 

ii.  45  a. 
Pap.  B.M.  208a. 
B  G.U.  353,  354,  355. 
B.G.U.  357. 
B.G.U.  17. 
B.G.U.  51. 
Pap.  B.M.  304. 
B.G.U.  52. 
Pap.  B.M.  309. 
B.G.U.  95. 
B.G.U.  358. 


DELEGATION'  OF  FUNCTIONS 


203 


Na7ne. 
Tiniag-enes 

Zoilus 
Serenus 

Asclepiades 
Apollonius 

Harpocration  Hierax 

Canopus  Asclepiades 

(Sarapa)mmon 
Monimus  Gemellus 
Aur.  Isidorus  Oriij-enes 


Date, 
f  14th  Feb.  159 
J  159/60 
j  28th  July  161 
i.  28th  Jan.  162 
/  162/3 

\  29th  Jan.  163 
/  loth  Aug;.  169 
26th  Nov.  169 

{26th  Nov.  174 
174/5 
Aug.  175 
175/6 
Jan.  179 
188/9 

May-June  189 
20th  Aug-.  189 
28th  Aug.  189 
193 

25th  Feb.  202 
202/3 

2ist  April  203 
June-July  208 
27th  Oct.  212 
216/7 


Aur.  Cassius  Dionysius  218 


Reference. 
Pap.  B.M.  376. 
B.G.U.  16,  524,  629. 
G.G.P.  ii.  55. 
Pap.  B.M.  327. 
G.G.P.  ii.  56. 
Pap.  B.M.  328. 
B.G.U,  18. 
B.G.U.  168. 
B.G.U.  26. 
B.G.U.  298. 
B.G.U.  55,  ii. 
B.G.U.  79. 
Pap.  B.M.  368. 
B.  G.  U.60, 1 26, 1 38,430. 
B.G.U.  us,  i.  ii. 
B.G.U.  117. 
B.G.U.  116. 
Pap.  B.M.  345. 
B.G.U.  139. 
B.G.U.  97. 
B.G.U.  577. 
B.G.U.  639. 
Pap.  B.M.  350. 

B.  G.U.  266;  Pap.  B.M. 
452. 

C.  P.R.  32. 


Note  III. — The  Delegation  of  Functions  during 
Vacancies  in  Office. 

There  is  a  phrase,  occasionally  found  in  papyri,  the 
exact  force  of  which  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
definitely  settled,  though  P.  Meyer  (Hermes,  xxxii. 
p.  227,  note  3)  has  correctly  classified  most  of  its  uses. 
Various  individuals  are  mentioned  at  different  times  as 
8iaSe;^o/xei/ot  rif]V  o-rpariqyLaVy  while  in  one  instance  the 
dikaiodotes  is  described  as  8taSe;>(o/x.e7/o?  koL  ra  Kara  ri]V 
yjyejuiovt'xv.  A  review  of  the  known  instances  will  serve 
to  show  that  the  word  8taSe;)(o/xevos  is  not  employed  in 
its  usual  classical  sense  as  referring"  to  a  strategos-elect 
or  prefect-elect,  but  has  an  exceptional  meaning. 

(A.)  Prefect. 

B.G.U.  327.  A  petition  addressed  to  C.  Cyecilius 
Salvianus,  dikaiodotes,   as  Sta8e;)(o/xei/os  koX  ra  Kara  T-qv 


204 


NOTES 


riycfjiovLavy  with  reference  to  the  non-payment  of  a  legacy, 
on  jst  April  176. 

The  circumstances  of  the  government  in  Egypt  just 
about  this  time  were  peculiar.  The  prefect,  who  is 
named  by  Dio  Cassius  (Ixxi.  28.  3)  Flavins  Calvisius, 
but  who  appears  on  an  Alexandrian  inscription  (M.A. 
loi)  as  C.  Calvisius  Statianus,  had  joined  the  rebellion 
of  Avidius  Cassius,  which  was  put  down  by  the  emperor 
Marcus  Aurelius  in  176,  and  for  a  punishment  was 
banished.  The  emperor  probably  had  no  one  ready  to 
take  the  place  of  the  banished  prefect ;  and  so  his  duties 
would  devolve  upon  the  next  in  rank,  the  dikaiodotes — 
an  unusual  event,  as  it  was  the  rule  that  each  prefect  in 
Egypt  held  his  office  until  his  successor  entered  Alex- 
andria (Ulpian,  Dig.  i.  17).  It  does  not  seem  necessary 
to  suppose,  with  P.  Meyer  (Hermes,  xxxii.  p.  227),  that 
the  delay  in  filling  the  vacancy  was  due  to  the  presence 
of  the  emperor  in  Egypt,  which  rendered  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  prefect  as  his  representative,  superfluous. 

(B.)  Strategoi. 

B.G.U.  18.  A  list  of  men  nominated  for  liturgies 
published  by  Serenus,  royal  scribe  of  the  Herakleid 
district  of  the  Arsinoite  nome,  8ia8e;!^o/x€ros  ra  Kara  t^v 
crTpaTTj-yidv,  on  lOth  Aug.  169. 

B.G.U.  82.  A  priest,  desiring  to  have  his  son  cir- 
cumcised, produced  evidence  of  his  lineage  to  the  royal 
scribe,  8<,aSe;(o/xevo5  rrjv  a-Tparyytav  (18th  Sept.  185). 

B.G.U.  168.  A  petition  to  the  epistrategos,  setting 
forth  that  certain  property  in  dispute  had  been  awarded 
to  the  petitioner  by  the  late  strategos  of  the  Herakleid 
division,  ^lius  Eudccmon  ;  but  the  defendant  in  the 
case,  ezTtyvorcra  rrj^'  rov  EvSat/xovos  e^oSov,  did  not  hand 
over  the  property  :  the  epistrategos  was  then  addressed, 
and  he  ordered  the  case  to  be  brought  before  the  royal 
scribe,  ^taSe^o/xevos  ra.  Kara  rr]v  (Trparrj-ytav.  This  was 
done,  the  scribe  in  question  being  Serenus,  on  26th 
November  (probably  in  the  year  169.    See  18,  above). 

B.G.U.  199.  A  return  from  the  tax-collectors,  ad- 
dressed to  Philoxenus,  strategos  of  the  divisions  of 
Themistos  and  Polemon,  also  StaSexo/JLevos  koI  (ra)  Kara 


DELEGATION  OF  FUNCTIONS 


205 


Tr]v  (TTpaTrj-ycav  for  the  Herakleid  division,  on  17th  Sept. 
194. 

B.G.  U.  347.  A  letter,  written  by  Sarapion,  strategos 
of  the  Herakleid  division  8ia  ^AXe^dvSpov  yvfjiva(Tio.p)(ov 
SLaScxo/xivov  rrjv  cTTpaTrjycav,  and  dated  iith  April  170, 
produced  before  the  high  priest. 

B.G.U.  358.  A  census-return  of  camels,  made  to 
the  royal  scribe  Heracleides,  8ta8ex"V^^«5  ryju  a-Tpar-qylav^ 
on  30th  Jan.  (apparently  in  the  year  151). 

B.G.U.  529.  A  return  made  by  the  corn  collectors 
to  Aurelius  Isidorus,  royal  scribe  of  the  Herakleid 
division,  8ta8e;(o/x€i'09  to,  /caro.  rryi/  (TTpaTrjyiav,  in  July 
216. 

G.G.P.  ii.  61.  A  petition  addressed  to  Hierax 
Nemesion,  strategos  of  the  Herakleid  division,  St 
Avv/5tWos  ayopavo/JL-Qo-avro'S  yvjjivacrLap)(^(ravTO^  SLaSe^^ofxevov 
TTjV  (xrpaTriyLav.     (Date,  about  194.) 

G.O.P.  i.  56.  A  request  from  a  woman,  addressed 
to  Maximus,  a  priest,  exegetes,  and  senator  of  Oxy- 
rhynchos,  asking  him  as  a  matter  of  urgency,  in  the 
absence  of  the  royal  scribe,  who  was  8taSe;)(o/xei/os  ttJv 
aTparrjyiav,  to  sanction  the  appointment  of  a  man  to  act 
as  her  guardian  for  the  purposes  of  a  loan  Required  at 
once.    (Date,  27th  Oct.  211.) 

G.O.P.  i.  62V.  A  letter  to  Syrus,  SiaSe^oVcvos  o-TpaTq- 
yiav  (of  Oxyrhynchos),  relative  to  the  lading  of  corn 
(third  century). 

Of  the  above  ten  cases,  it  will  be  seen  one  refers  to 
a  strategos  of  another  district,  six  to  the  royal  scribe 
of  the  district,  two  to  holders  of  minor  offices,  and  one 
to  an  individual  not  definitely  stated  to  have  any  rank. 
It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  person  chosen 
SiaS€)^€(TOaL  ry]v  aTpaTrjyiav  was  not  necessarily,  but  was 
usually,  the  next  in  official  standing  to  the  strategos — 
the  royal  scribe. 

There  may  also  be  quoted,  as  probably  having  refer- 
ence to  the  same  custom,  the  following  papyrus  :  — 

G.O.P.  i.  59.  A  letter  sent  by  the  council  of  Oxy- 
rhynchos to  Aurelius  Apollonius  the  strategos,  through 
Aurelius  Asclepiades,  an  ex-hypomnematographos,  Std- 


2o6 


NOTES 


So^o?,  where  StaSoxos  may  be  taken  to  mean  8taSe;)(o/xei/o9 
TTjv  arparriyLav. 

Three  of  the  Berlin  papyri — 18,  168,  347 — refer  to 
events  happening  in  the  same  district  within  a  few 
months  ;  and  a  comparison  of  them  will  serve  to 
elucidate  somewhat  the  relationships  of  the  strategoi 
and  the  Sta8e;^oyu,evot.  In  the  first  place,  however,  it 
should  be  remarked  that  the  date  in  B.G.U.  347,  i.  12, 
is  almost  certainly  wrong.  Letters  are  said  to  have 
been  written  by  Alexander  on  3rd  Oct.  169,  when  he 
is  described  as  an  ex-gymnasiarch,  and  on  nth  April 
170,  when  he  is  described  as  a  gymnasiarch.  As  it 
was  contrary  to  the  usual  rule  for  a  man  to  be  chosen 
to  serve  as  gymnasiarch  a  second  time,  it  seems  natural 
to  suppose  that  the  date  of  the  first-mentioned  letter  is 
wrongly  given,  and  that  it  should  have  been  3rd  Oct. 
170,  shortly  before  which  Alexander  had  resigned  his 
office  of  gymnasiarch.  In  further  support  of  this  view, 
it  may  be  noticed  that,  if  this  date  is  correct,  the  letter 
which  was  addressed  to  the  high  priest,  and  presented 
to  him  on  his  visit  to  Memphis,  was  only  about  three 
months  old  when  presented  ;  but  if  the  date  given  in 
the  papyrus  is  right,  fifteen  months  had  elapsed  between 
the  writing  and  the  delivery  of  the  letter.  As  the  high 
priest  must  have  visited  Memphis  at  least  once  a  year, 
and  as  the  matter  in  question  was  the  circumcision  of 
a  boy,  so  long  a  delay  seems  improbable. 

Assuming  that  the  date  should  be  corrected  as  stated, 
it  is  possible  to  reconstruct  the  series  of  changes  which 
took  place  in  regard  to  the  duties  of  the  strategos  of 
the  Herakleid  division  in  the  years  169  and  170. 

^lius  Eudaemon  had  been  strategos  of  the  division  ; 
but  he  died  (this  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of  e^oSos 
in  B.G.U.  168)  some  time  before  loth  August  169,  on 
which  date  Serenus  the  royal  scribe  acted  as  strategos 
(B.G.U.  18).  Serenus  was  still  so  acting  on  26th  Nov. 
169  (B.G.U.  168).  But  on  nth  April  170  Sarapion  had 
been  appointed  strategos.  Alexander,  a  gymnasiarch, 
however,  WTote  a  letter  for  him  as  StaScxo/xeros  (B.G.U. 
347,  ii.).    On  3rd  Oct.  170,  Alexander  again  wrote  a 


DELEGATION  OF  FUNCTIONS 


207 


letter  for  Sarapion  ;  but  on  this  occasion  as  copyist 
merely,  to  all  seeming-,  since  he  is  no  longer  described 
as  8ia8e;^oyaci/o5  ryv  arpaTrj-yiav.  The  explanation  would 
appear  to  be  that,  on  the  death  of  the  strategos,  the 
royal  scribe  naturally  did  his  work  until  a  new  strategos 
was  appointed.  For  some  reason,  however,  the  new 
strategos  when  chosen  was  unable  to  undertake  the 
duties  at  once,  and  g-ot  a  man  of  position  to  do  them 
for  him  ;  and  this  man  subsequently  continued  to  help 
him. 

This  theory  supposes  that  the  term  8ia8€;)^o/xci'09  has 
slightly  different  shades  of  meaning  when  applied  to 
the  royal  scribe  who  was  acting-  strategos  during-  a 
vacancy,  and  the  g-ymnasiarch  who  was  acting-  strategos 
on  behalf  of  another  man.  The  other  cases  noted  tend 
to  support  this.  There  is  no  reference,  in  the  instances 
where  a  royal  scribe  is  named  as  BiaSexo/xevo^  ryv 
o-Tparrj-yLav,  to  the  existence  of  a  strateg-os  at  the  same 
time  ;  on  the  other  hand,  in  each  case  where  the  holder 
of  some  minor  office  is  so  named,  there  is  also  a 
strategos  mentioned.  In  the  devolution  of  the  duties 
of  the  strategos  on  the  royal  scribe  during  a  vacancy 
in  the  former  office,  there  is  a  parallel  to  the  arrange- 
ment already  shown  to  have  been  made  for  the  perform- 
ance of  the  work  of  the  prefecture  by  the  dikaiodotes 
on  the  sudden  removal  of  the  prefect.  It  appears  that 
the  royal  scribe,  under  these  circumstances,  possessed 
the  full  powers  of  the  strategos  :  he  could  be  named 
as  a  judge  (B.G.U.  168),  could  nominate  to  liturgies 
(B.G.U.  18),  and  received  the  tax  returns  (B.G.U.  529). 
It  is  probable,  then,  that  it  was  the  rule  for  the  royal 
scribe,  in  case  of  any  casual  vacancy  in  the  office  of 
strategos,  to  assume  all  the  duties  ;  and  the  one 
instance  (B.G.U.  199),  in  which  the  strategos  of  a 
neighbouring  district  acted  for  that  in  which  there  was 
a  vacancy,  may  be  regarded  as  exceptionaU 

The  position  of  the  ^laSexo^erot  in  the  other  cases 
cited  (B.G.U.  347  ;  G.G.P.  ii.  61  ;  G.O.P.  i.  59)  is  quite 
different.  They  occur  simply  as  agents  for  the  trans- 
mission of  letters  to  and  from  the  strategos.  What 


2o8 


NOTES 


official  standing  they  iiad  may  be  gathered  from  a 
comparison  of  the  two  letters  in  B.G.U.  347  with  the 
petition  in  G.O.P.  i.  56.  From  the  two  former  it 
appears  that  Alexander  the  gymnasiarch  wrote  letters 
at  different  times  on  behalf  of  Sarapion  the  strategos 
on  practically  identical  subjects  ;  but  one  was  written 
by  him  as  SiaB€)(6fjL€vo<;  ryv  crrpar-qyiav^  while  the  other 
was  written  without  any  such  authority.  The  circum- 
stances under  which  he  w^as  entitled  to  assume  any  of 
the  functions  of  the  strategos  may  be  explained  by  the 
Oxyrhynchos  papyrus,  in  w^hich  a  person  of  some  rank 
is  requested  to  sanction  the  appointment  of  a  guardian, — ■ 
an  act  which  really  lay  in  the  province  of  the  strategos, 
— because  the  matter  was  urgent,  and  the  royal  scribe, 
who  was  also  8ta8e;(o/AfVos  T-qv  o-rparjyyiai/,  was  away. 
Therefore  it  would  seem  that,  when  a  strategos  was 
absent  from  his  district,  he  could  appoint  some  person 
to  perform  the  ordinary  routine  business  of  his  office, 
and  this  person  was  entitled  to  subscribe  himself  as 
8ta8e^o/xei'05  Tjyv  crrpaT/^ytai/  or  8taSo;^os. 

Individual  instances  occur  of  substitutes  for  other 
officials — a  procurator  usiacus  ^lah^-^o ix€vo<;  ri]v  ap)(upo)<Tvvrjv 
(B.G.U.  362,  vii.  26)  ;  elders  StaSexo/xe^/ot  for  the  village 
scribe  of  Nilopolis  (B.G.U.  15,  i.  8)  ;  and  a  senator  of 
Hermopolis  for  the  prytaneus  (C.P.R.  i.  20,  3):  but 
only  in  the  second  case  does  the  evidence  show  clearly 
that  they  acted  with  full  powers  during  a  vacancy  in 
office.  The  other  two  cases  may  simply  refer  to  a 
delegation  of  functions  by  an  absent  officer. 

Note  IV. — The  Registry  of  Deeds. 

L.  Mitteis  (Hermes,  xxx.  p.  564ff.)has  discussed  the 
methods  of  registry  exemplified  by  the  Fayum  papyri. 
He  concludes  that  the  agoranomos  was  probably  origin- 
ally a  Greek  official,  and  the  Hellenes  brought  with 
them  the  custom  of  making  contracts  before  him  ;  while 
the  ypa(t)€Lou  was  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  register- 
ing Egyptian  documents,  especially  those  written  in 
demotic  characters.    In  course  of  time  the  distinction 


REGISTRY  OF  DEEDS 


209 


between  the  nations  disappeared,  and  the  official  func- 
tions became  concurrent.  Still,  there  was  a  certain 
difTerence  :  the  agoranomos  had  notarial  duties,  con- 
cerned with  the  completion  of  contracts  ;  while  the 
grapheion,  though  on  one  side  similar,  as  the  place 
where  the  contracts  were  made  (B.G.U.  86,  191,  251, 
252,  297,  394),  is  also  in  some  cases  only  the  place  of 
registry  (B.G.U.  50,  153  ;  C.P.R.  i.  4,  5),  the  documents 
being  executed  privately. 

This  statement  meets  all  the  instances  recorded  in 
the  Fayum  papyri ;  but  those  from  Oxyrhynchos  show 
that  the  customs  prevailing  there  were  somewhat 
different.  In  them  the  agoranomos  is  all-important, 
and  the  grapheion  disappears.  It  is  to  the  agoranomoi 
that  notices  of  the  transfer  or  sale  of  land  are  sent 
(G.O.  P.  i.  45,  46,  47,  100) ;  in  their  presence,  or  at  their 
office,  the  agoranomeion,  the  contracts  were  written 
(G.O. P.  i.  73,  75,  96,  99) ;  they  had  the  custody  of  the 
deeds  when  executed  (G.O. P.  i.  106,  107)  ;  and,  in  the 
case  of  the  emancipation  by  purchase  of  slaves,  it 
apparently  fell  to  them  to  announce  the  completion  of 
the  necessary  formalities  (G.O. P.  i,  48,  49,  50). 

The  formula  employed  in  describing  the  completion 
of  contracts  of  sale  differs  again  in  the  Vienna  papyri 
from  the  Herakleopolite  nome.  In  these  (C.P.R.  6,  7, 
8)  the  contract  is  said  to  be  executed  Sl  iTnTrjprjTwv 
dyopai'o/xtas ;  and  here,  as  at  Oxyrhynchos,  no  mention 
is  made  of  the  grapheion. 

In  a  single  contract  of  sale  from  Elephantine  (N.  et 
E.  17),  the  same  formula  is  used  as  at  Oxyrhynchos, 
stating  that  the  deed  was  drawn  up  before  the  agora- 
nomoi. 

It  would  appear,  therefore,  that,  on  the  evidence  now 
published,  the  grapheion  was  an  institution  peculiar  to 
the  Arsinoite  nome,  where  it  relieved  the  agoranomoi 
of  many  of  their  duties  with  regard  to  the  execution 
and  registration  of  contracts.  The  word  grapheion 
occurs  once  in  the  Oxyrhynchos  papyri  (G.O. P.  i.  44)  ; 
but  the  name  here  appears  to  be  applied  to  a  tax,  pay- 
able at  the  agoranomeion. 
V— 14 


2IO 


NOTES 


Note  V. — The  Police  Administration. 

A  large  number  of  officials,  connected  in  various 
ways  with  police  duties,  are  mentioned  in  papyri.  The 
only  attempt  hitherto  made  for  their  classification  is  one 
by  Hirschfeld  (Sitzungsberichte  d.  Kaiserl.  Akademie 
zu  Berlin,  1892,  p.  815),  on  the  basis  of  a  Paris  papyrus 
from  Panopolis.  This  mentions  (a)  two  dpinyo^vXaK€<;  ; 
(b)  three  IttI  rrj^  dpy]vrj<;  ;  (c)  two  ap-^ivvKTO(livXaKcq  ;  [d) 
eight  or  more  </)vXaKe?  a^rcov  ;  (e)  ten  more  IttI  rrj<;  dprjvq^ ; 
(f)  two  dprjrdpxaL  ;  (o-)  eight  ^vAttKcg  avTwv  ;  {/i)  four 
7reSto<^ijAaKes  ;  (z)  some  op€0(^t'Xa/<e9  oSou  'Oacreo)?  ;  (y)  some 
i/?iw(^T;\aKes).  These  he  arranges  in  three  classes  :  (i) 
the  officers  named  under  (<?),  (b)  and  (^),  and  (/)  ;  (2) 
those  under  [c),  (^),  and  (^)  ;  (3)  those  under  (k),  (z), 
and  (y).  The  individuals  are  all  Egyptians,  and  between 
the  ages  of  30  and  35,  except  one  who  is  48,  and  the 
two  eirenarchs,  who  are  respectively  60  and  85  years  old. 

The  evidence  of  other  papyri,  however,  tends  to  upset 
this  classification  in  some  respects  ;  although  it  is  not 
yet  possible  to  definitely  settle  the  exact  rank  of  many  of 
the  officers  mentioned.  A  comparison  of  the  evidence 
gives  the  following  results  :  — 

EtpT/i  apxat.  There  were  two  of  these  officials  both  at 
Panopolis  (see  above)  and  Oxyrhynchos  (G.O.P.  i.  80), 
and  an  eirenarch  is  mentioned  in  the  correspondence  of 
Flavins  Abinnaeus  from  Dionysias  in  the  Fayum  (Pap. 
B.M.  240,  242).  The  Oxyrhynchos  papyrus  shows 
them  to  have  been  the  chief  police  officers,  holding 
jurisdiction  over  the  nome  ;  it  contains  a  declaration 
on  oath,  made  to  them  by  the  archephodos  of  a  village, 
that  certain  individuals  "wanted  by  the  police  of  the 
village  of  Armenthae  in  the  Hermopolite  nome  are  not 
in  our  village  or  in  Armenthae  itself." 

Apx^cfioSoi.  These  officers  are  the  ones  most  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  connection  with  the  maintenance 
of  order  in  the  country. 

For  each  village  one  or  two  archephodoi  were  ap- 
pointed (B.G.U.  321,  375;  Pap.  B.M.  199;  G.G.P.  ii. 
66;  G.O.P.  i.  80,  are  instances  of  one;  B.G.U.  6,  of 


POLICE  ADMINISTRATION 


211 


two)  ;  there  is  no  evidence  of  more  than  two  in  any 
case.  They  are  most  commonly  named  in  orders  to 
present  criminals  for  trial  (B.G. U.  147,  148,  374,  375, 
376;  G.G.P.  ii.  66),  which  during  the  first  three 
centuries  of  Roman  rule  were  always  addressed  to 
them,  though  sometimes  other  officials  are  added  in  the 
address  ;  and  it  was  to  them  that  evidence  was  given 
to  help  in  the  discovery  of  a  criminal  (G.O.P.  i.  69). 
They  were  superior  to  the  phylakes,  who  received  their 
pay  from  them  (G.G.P.  ii.  43),  and  may  reasonably  be 
regarded  as  the  heads  of  the  police  in  the  villages. 

TLp€(rl3vT€poL.  The  elders  were  not,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, police  officers  ;  but  they  are  named  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  archephodoi  and  phylakes  in  two  official 
lists  (B.G.U.  6;  Pap.  B.M.  199),  and  once  are  associ- 
ated with  the  archephodoi  as  the  recipients  of  an  order 
to  present  a  criminal  at  the  court  (B.G.U.  148).  They 
were,  as  the  governing  body  of  the  village,  generally 
responsible  for  its  peace  and  order,  which  explains 
their  association  with  their  regular  police. 

Evo-x>J/u,oves.  The  same  explanation  applies  to  the 
association  of  the  euschemones  with  the  archephodoi 
in  orders  of  arrest  (B.G.U.  147,  376)  ;  as  they,  like  the 
elders,  were  not  in  strictness  members  of  the  police 
administration. 

'E>Lpr]vo<j>vX.aK€<;.  The  eirenophylakes,  who  are  men- 
tioned in  the  Panopolis  list  (see  above),  may  perhaps 
be  considered  as  equal  in  rank  with  the  archephodoi, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that,  in  a  list  of  the  officials  of 
Soknopaiou  Nesos  (Pap.  B.M.  199),  the  sums  entered 
against  the  names  of  the  archephodos  and  eirenophy- 
lakes, of  whom  there  are  two,  are  the  same — in  each 
case  600  drachmae.  This  sum  F.  G.  Kenyon  (in  his 
note  on  this  papyrus,  p.  158,  Catalogue  of  Greek 
Papyri,  ii.)  takes  to  be  the  salary  paid  to  the  officers 
in  question. 

^vAaKC9.  The  physical  work  of  arrest  of  malefactors 
was  done  by  the  phylakes,  who  were  apparently  classed 
at  Panopolis  (see  the  papyrus  quoted  above)  under 
different  names  according  to  their  special  duties.  Of 


212 


NOTES 


the  Panopolite  names  the  only  one  found  elsewhere  is  the 
7reSto</)i'Aa^  (P^ip-  B.M.  189).  That  they  were  required 
to  be  young*  men  has  been  noticed  in  connection  with 
the  Panopohs  list.  Their  salary  at  Soknopaiou  Nesos 
is  g^iven  as  300  drachmae  (Pap.  B.M.  199  ;  see  reference 
to  Kenyon's  note  above),  and  there  were  four  of  them 
in  this  village.  There  is  an  interesting  record  from 
Oxyrhynchos  (G.O.P.  i.  34^),  which  details  the  names 
and  stations  of  the  phylakes  in  that  town :  one  appears 
to  have  been  placed  in  each  street,  while  six  guarded 
the  temple  of  Serapis,  seven  that  of  Thoeris,  one  that 
of  Isis,  three  the  theatre,  and  two  the  gymnasium. 

Arja-TOTTiacrTaL.  The  lestopiastai  are  mentioned  in  a 
special  order,  by  which  five  were  sent  to  assist  the  village 
oiiicers  in  the  search  for  certain  criminals  (E.G. U.  325). 
It  is  possible  that  they  were  men  detailed  from  head- 
quarters for  special  service,  as  they  were  evidently 
distinct  from  the  regular  local  force. 

ArjfjLoorLOL,  The  police  officers  of  a  village  are  some- 
times referred  to  in  a  body  as  the  demosioi.  That  this 
name  includes  all  the  ranks  is  shown  by  the  phrase  6  t>}s 
Ku)jjir]<;  dp^e<^o8os  Kal  ol  aX.\oL  Syj/xoo-lol  (G.O.P.  i.  69),  and 
by  a  list  embracing  under  this  title  elders,  archephodoi, 
and  phylakes  (B.G.U.  6). 

Ka)/xap;)(at.  In  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century 
the  place  of  the  archephodoi  is  taken,  in  orders  for 
arrest,  by  the  Komarchs  (G.O.P.  i.  64,  65  ;  B.G.U.  634). 

'ETTia-Tar?/?  eipijvr/s.  In  one  instance  the  name  of  this 
officer  is  coupled  with  the  Komarchs  (G.O.P.  i.  64). 

Note  VI. — Senates  in  Egypt. 

The  withdrawal  from  Alexandria  by  Augustus  of  the 
privilege  of  self-government  by  a  senate  is  stated  by 
Dio  Cassius  (li.  17).  Mommsen  (Roman  Provinces,  ii. 
p.  236,  note  i)  doubts  this  statement,  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  improbable  that  Augustus  would  have  so 
slighted  Alexandria  in  comparison  with  the  other 
Egyptian  communities,  to  which  he  left  their  existing 


SENATES  IN  EGYPT 


213 


organisation.  But  Alexandria  stood  in  a  very  different 
position  to  any  other  Egyptian  town.  A  senate  at 
Ptolemais  or  Naukratis  could  not  be  a  source  of  any 
serious  danger  to  the  Roman  government :  in  both 
towns  the  citizenship  was  probably  confined  to  the 
descendants  of  the  original  Greek  settlers,  whose  in- 
terest it  would  be  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the 
Romans,  surrounded  as  they  were  by  a  people  of  a 
different  race,  whose  natural  instincts  would  make  them 
hostile  to  the  specially  privileged  Greeks  planted  among 
them  ;  and  even  if  the  senate  in  either  place  had  desired 
to  head  a  revolt,  they  controlled  only  a  small  body  of 
citizens,  of  no  great  wealth.  But  in  Alexandria  the 
Greek  and  Egyptian  elements  had  coalesced  to  a  con- 
siderable extent ;  and  there  was  a  large  population,  of 
notoriously  turbulent  disposition,  amongst  whom  the 
senate  could  have  found  a  body  of  supporters  sufficient 
to  meet  the  Roman  garrison  with  a  reasonable  prospect 
of  success  in  an  attempt  to  seize  the  city.  And  the  loss 
of  Alexandria  meant  to  the  Romans  the  loss  of  Egypt ; 
not  only  was  the  machinery  of  government  centred 
there,  but  it  was  the  only  port  by  which  reinforcements 
from  Rome  could  enter  Egypt.  At  Alexandria,  too, 
were  stored  the  supplies  of  corn  on  which  the  city  of 
Rome  largely  depended  for  its  subsistence.  It  was 
consequently  of  the  greatest  importance  that  there 
should  not  be  a  body  in  Alexandria  which  might  serve 
as  a  focus  for  revolutions.  And  that  Augustus  would 
not  have  been  moved  by  any  consideration  for  the  feel- 
ings of  the  Alexandrians,  is  shown  by  his  proposal  to 
remove  the  seat  of  government  from  Alexandria  to 
Nikopolis.  The  wisdom  of  his  action  in  abolishing  the 
senate  was  shown  not  long  after  its  re-establishment  by 
Severus,  when  it  headed  the  revolt  which  was  finally 
crushed  by  Aurelian  (Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  vii.  32). 

The  senate  at  Ptolemais  Hermiou  can  only  be  In- 
ferred to  have  existed  under  the  early  empire  from  the 
words  of  Strabo  (xvii.  i.  42),  who  says  that  the  town 
had  a  a-va-rrjfxa  ttoXltlkov  iv  t(3  EXA.r/vtK{3  TpoTrio  ;  but  this 
would  certainly  mean  to  any  Greek  the  inclusion  in  the 


214 


NOTES 


orgfanisation  of  a  senate.  The  only  mention  of  a 
senator  of  Ptolemais  is  in  295  (G.O.P.  i.  43,  iii.  3,  8). 

At  Naukratis,  likewise,  the  existence  of  a  senate  is 
only  a  probability  as  reg"ards  the  earlier  period  of 
Roman  rule.  But,  if  Ptolemais  retained  its  senate, 
there  was  no  reason  for  abolishing  that  of  Naukratis  ; 
and  the  statement  of  Dio  (li.  17)  is  sufficient  ground 
for  believing  in  the  continuance  of  the  latter.  There  was 
certainly  a  senate  at  Naukratis  in  323  (Pap.  Gen.  10). 

The  senate  at  Antinoopolis  appears  very  shortly  after 
the  foundation  of  the  city  (C.I.G.  iii.  4679)  ;  and  there 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  existed  from  the  first. 

Senates  or  senators  at  other  towns  are  mentioned  in 
the  following  years  : — 

Arsinoe  :  205  (Pap.  B.M.  348),  214  (C.P.R.  45),  216 
(B.G.U.  362),  345  (Pap.  B.M.  233). 

Herakleopolis  :  216  (C.P.R.  35), 263  (B.G.  V.  554). 

Hermopolis  magna  :  250  (C.P.R.  20,  i.),  266  (C.P.R. 
39),  271  (C.P.R.  9),  321/2  (C.P.R.  10),  330  (C.P.R.  19). 

Oxyrhynchos,  211  (G.O.P.  i.  56),  223  (G.O.P.  i.  77), 
238/44  (G.O.P.  i.  80),  283  (G.O.P.  i.  55),  292  (G.O.P. 
i.  59),  316  (G.O.P.  i.  103),  323  (G.O.P.  i.  60),  342 
G.O.P.  i.  87). 

A  proclamation  made  in  288  (G.O.P.  i.  58)  refers  to 
the  senates  in  the  various  nomes  in  the  Heptanomis 
and  Arsinoite  nome. 

Note  VII. — The  Archons  of  Thebes. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  A.  Wiedemann  (R.E.  ii.  p. 
346)  that  there  were  independent  kings  of  the  Thebaid 
in  the  second  century;  and  he  supports  his  theory  by 
finding  on  an  ostrakon  the  name  Petronius  as  that  of 
the  ruler  by  whose  regnal  year  the  document  is  dated. 
It  is  difficult,  however,  to  imagine  that  such  a  kingdom 
of  the  Thebaid  could  have  existed  unmentioned  by 
historians,  and  unnoticed  in  the  inscriptions  of  Upper 
Egypt  belonging  to  that  period  ;  and  it  seems  more 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  ostrakon  has  been  mis- 
read by  Wiedemann.    This  view  is  supported  by  his 


BYZANTINE  OFFICIALS 


215 


transcript  of  another  ostrakon,  which  he  deciphers  as 
a  letter  from  KAavSto?  Xloo-.'.Sojj/to?  XeTretpr^s  ^OpaKojv  ;  and 
he  regards  the  X  (  =  in)  and  /?  (prefixed  for  formation  of 
g-enitive)  as  evidence  of  the  intiuence  of  the  Ethiopico- 
Meroitic  language  ;  whereas  the  right  reading  is  cer- 
tainly X  [  =  eKarovTapxos)  o-~€Lpr}<q  ^  OpaKwv.  It  is  true 
that  a  "king"  of  Thebes  is  mentioned  (Hist.  Aug. 
Niger,  12)  as  having  presented  to  Pescennius  Niger  a 
portrait  statue  of  himself ;  but  the  Thebaid  was  cer- 
tainly not  independent  in  the  reign  of  Commodus,  and 
the  "king"  was  doubtless  one  of  the  archons  men- 
tioned as  existing  at  Thebes  in  the  time  of  Hadrian 
(C.I.G.  iii.  4822,  4823,  4824). 

Note  VIII. — The  Dux  yEoYPXi  and  other 
Byzantine  Officials. 

F.  G.  Kenyon  (Catalogue  of  Greek  Papyri  in  B.M. 
ii.  p.  270,  note)  has  pointed  out  that  the  arrangement  of 
authority  given  in  the  Notitia  Dignitatum,  where  there 
is  a  comes  limitis  /Egypti,  commanding  the  divisions 
of  Middle  and  Lower  Egypt,  a  dux  Thebaidis,  and  a 
dux  Libyarum,  is  of  later  origin  than  the  time  of  Con- 
stantius  II.;  and  that  the  supreme  military  officer  in 
Lower  and  Middle  Egypt  is  always,  in  documents  of  the 
first  half  of  the  fourth  century,  the  dux.  This  is  borne 
out  by  an  inscription  on  an  altar  in  the  temple  at  Luxor 
(published  in  the  Bull,  de  la  Soc.  des  Antiq.  de  France, 
1888,  p.  273),  dedicated  to  Constantine  by  the  dux 
^gypti  et  Thebaidis  utrarumque  Libyarum,  which  shows 
that  the  divisions  of  the  province,  though  recognised, 
were  under  one  commander,  who  bore  the  title  of  dux. 

The  date  of  the  change  to  the  arrangements  described 
by  the  Notitia  may  be  very  nearly  fixed  by  the  addresses 
of  the  imperial  rescripts.  In  384,  Merobaudes  is  ad- 
dressed as  dux  yEgypti  (Cod.  Theod.  xi.  30.  43)  ;  but  in 
391,  Romanus  is  styled  comes  limitis  ^gypti  (Cod. 
Theod.  xvi.  10.  11);  and  this  title  is  the  one  sub- 
sequently used.  The  dux  Libyarum  appears  in  a 
rescript  of  417  (Cod.  Theod.  viii.  i.  16). 


2l6 


NOTES 


It  is  noticeable  that  the  change  from  the  style  of 
praefectus  ^g-ypti  to  that  of  prcefectus  Augustalis  came 
almost  at  the  same  time.  In  380  a  rescript  was  ad- 
dressed to  Julianus  by  the  former  title  (Cod.  Theod.  xii. 
I,  80),  which  is  the  one  found  in  all  previous  docu- 
ments ;  while  in  382,  Palladius  was  entitled  praefectus 
Augustalis  (Cod.  Theod.  viii.  5,  37),  which  was  the 
name  always  subsequently  used. 

Note  IX. — Comparison  of  Ancient  and  Modern 
Local  Government  of  Egypt. 

The  system  of  local  government  in  Egypt,  as  it  ex- 
isted before  the  introduction  of  European  ideas  to  any 
large  extent,  offers  some  interesting  points  of  com- 
parison with  the  Roman  organisation.  Clot  Bey  (Apergu 
General  sur  L'Egypte,  ii.  p.  141)  gives  an  account  of 
the  officials  under  the  rule  of  Mehmet-Ali,  from  which 
the  following  is  summarised  : — 

Under  the  Vali  were  seven  mudirs,  who  were  placed 
in  charge  of  the  seven  provinces  into  which  Egypt  was 
divided.  Under  them  were  the  mamours,  who  presided 
over  the  departments  of  these  provinces.  The  districts 
of  these  departments  were  managed  by  nazirs.  Finally, 
each  village  had  at  its  head  the  sheik-el-beled. 

The  duties  of  the  mudir  corresponded  to  those  of  the 
epistrategos.  He  had  to  visit  the  departments  of  his 
province,  and  see  to  the  execution  of  the  orders  of 
the  Vali,  just  as  the  epistrategos  had  done  in  his  circuits 
of  the  nomes. 

The  mamour  w^as  chiefly  concerned  with  agriculture 
and  taxation,  especially  that  payable  in  kind.  He  was 
also  charged  with  the  supervision  of  public  works,  and 
with  1-evying  men  for  their  execution  and  for  military 
service.  In  the  former  aspect  of  his  office  he  resembled 
the  Roman  toparch,  while  his  other  duties  were  rather 
those  of  the  strategos. 

The  nazir  had  inherited  other  functions  of  the  strate- 
gos, in  the  arrangement  of  the  work  of  his  district  and 
the  delegation  of  authority  from  his  superiors. 


PETRONIUS:  COINAGE 


217 


The  sheik-el-beled  filled  the  place  of  the  elders  of  the 
village.  He  had  a  certain  amount  of  authority  as  a 
minor  police  magistrate,  and  was  responsible  for  the 
taxes  of  his  village. 

There  was  also  in  each  village  a  special  official  known 
as  the  kholy,  charged  with  the  management  of  the 
cultivation  of  the  land,  who  therefore  corresponded  to 
the  sitologos  ;  and  a  seraf,  who,  like  the  praktor,  col- 
lected taxes,  and  paid  them  to  the  mamour,  as  the 
praktor  had  done  to  the  strategos. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  mudirs  were  always 
Turks,  as  the  epistrategoi  were  always  Romans  ;  while 
the  mamours  and  lower  officials,  like  their  predecessors 
in  Roman  times,  were,  as  a  rule,  natives. 

Note  X. — The  Prefecture  of  Petronius. 

It  seems  necessary  to  suppose  that  Petronius  was 
reappointed  prefect  after  the  failure  of  ^lius  Gallus  in 
Arabia.  From  Strabo  (xvii.  i.  53)  it  is  evident  that  he 
succeeded  Cornelius  Gallus,  and  was  followed  in  office 
by  ^lius  Gallus.  Then,  while  ^lius  Gallus  was  in 
Arabia,  the  y^^thiopians  took  advantage  of  the  absence 
of  the  Roman  troops  from  Egypt  to  invade  the  country. 
Petronius  then  marched  up  and  drove  them  back  from 
the  frontiers,  subsequently  pursuing  his  conquests  up 
to  the  capital  of  Ethiopia.  Pliny  (N.H.  vi.  181)  ex- 
pressly states  that  he  made  this  expedition  as  prefect ; 
so  it  would  appear  that  ^lius  Gallus  was  removed 
from  office  as  soon  as  the  news  of  his  defeat  in  Arabia 
reached  Rome,  and  Petronius,  who  had  probably  been 
left  in  command  of  Egypt,  was  reinstated  as  prefect. 

Note  XI. — The  Coinage  of  the  Early  Roman 
Emperors. 

Coins  of  Augustus  and  Tiberius  of  the  Alexandrian 
mint  are  comparatively  rare,  while  none  are  known  of 
Caligula. 


2l8 


NOTES 


The  manner  in  which  hoards  of  coins,  when  found  in 
Egypt,  have  usually  been  scattered  by  the  dealers  into 
whose  hands  they  passed,  has  prevented  any  exact 
comparison  of  the  numbers  of  coins  put  into  circulation 
under  the  different  emperors  being-  formulated.  Three 
hoards  of  some  size— two,  containing  4605  and  62 
specimens  respectively,  from  Bacchias,  and  one  con- 
taining 91,  from  Karanis — were  discovered  in  1895-6 
by  D.  G.  Hogarth  and  B.  P.  Grenfell,  when  they  were 
excavating  sites  in  the  Fayum  on  behalf  of  the  Egypt 
Exploration  Fund  ;  and  these  came  intact  to  me  for 
examination.  The  subjoined  table  will  serve  to  illus- 
trate the  comparative  issues  of  the  first  century  and 
a  half  of  Roman  rule  in  Egypt.  It  may  be  premised 
that  the  condition  of  the  coins  shows  them  to  have 
been  collected  about  the  same  time,  and  not  gradually 
hoarded — the  oldest  being  also  the  most  worn  ;  so  that 
the  figures  prove  generally  the  number  of  each  issue 
in  circulation  at  the  time  w^hen  the  hoards  were  de- 
posited :  — 


Bacchias  I. 

Bacchias  II. 

Karanis. 

Ptolemaic 

2 

Claudius  .... 

359 

5 

3 

Nero  .... 

2947 

44 

49 

Galba      .        ,        .  . 

190 

2 

2 

Otho  .... 

54 

I 

Vitellius  .        ,        .  . 

19 

Vespasian 

^37 

6 

4 

Titus  .... 

30 

Domitian 

1 

Nerva  .... 

22 

Trajan  .... 

89 

I 

4 

Hadrian  .... 

560 

3 

18 

Sabina  .... 

6 

>(^^lius  .... 

5 

Antoninus 

75 

7 

Aurelius  .... 

8 

2 

Verus  .... 

I 

2 

All  these  coins,  with  two  exceptions — one  Ptolemaic 


THE  HADRIANON 


219 


bronze  and  one  larg-e  bronze  of  Antoninus — are  de- 
based silver  tetradrachms  of  the  Alexandrian  mint 


Note  XII. — The  Hadrianon  at  Alexandria. 

There  has  been  a  certain  amount  of  difficulty  in 
explaining  the  references  made  to  a  building-  at  Alex- 
andria known  as  the  Hadrianon.  On  coins  of  Hadrian 
(B.M.  Cat.  875,  876)  there  is  represented  a  portico, 
having  within  it  a  standing  statue  of  Sarapis,  which 
may  be  certainly  accepted  as  representing  the  Sarapeion  ; 
and  by  the  statue  there  stands  the  emperor,  touching 
with  his  right  hand  a  shrine  inscribed  AAPIANON. 
This  would  suggest  that  Hadrian  gave  his  name  to  a 
chapel  attached  to  the  Sarapeion,  which  may  have 
existed  before  his  time,  as  a  similar  shrine  inside  the 
portico  with  statue  of  Sarapis,  but  without  the  inscrip- 
tion, is  shown  on  coins  of  Trajan  (B.M.  Catalogue, 
534-539).  But,  as  pointed  out  by  R.  S.  Poole  (Intro- 
duction to  B.M.  Catalogue  of  Coins,  Alexandria,  p. 
xcii),  the  relation  of  the  chapel  to  the  Sarapeion  could 
not  have  been  very  close,  as  Epiphanius  mentions  that 
the  building  formerly  known  as  the  Hadrianon,  and 
subsequently  as  the  Licinian  gymnasium,  was  rebuilt 
as  a  church  under  Constantius  II.  (adv.  Haer.  11.  ii.  69)0 
As  the  worship  of  Sarapis  was  not  overthrown  till  the 
time  of  Theodosius  I.,  the  appropriation  of  a  chapel 
attached  to  his  temple  for  the  purposes  of  a  Christian 
church  was  out  of  the  question  in  the  reign  of  Con- 
stantius. 

The  difficulty,  however,  may  perhaps  be  solved  by  the 
evidence  afforded  by  two  lately-discovered  documents. 
In  a  papyrus  from  Oxyrhynchos  (G.O.P.  34')  there  is 
contained  an  edict  of  the  prefect  Flavins  Titianus  with 
reference  to  the  deposit  of  copies  of  archives  in  the 
'ASpLavrj  pL^XLoOyjKrj  at  Alexandria.  As  the  Sarapeion 
was  the  great  library  of  Alexandria,  it  would  be  only 
natural  for  a  chapel  attached  to  it  to  be  appropriated 
for  the  storage  of  archives  ;  and  the  building  repre- 


220 


NOTES 


sented  on  coins  may  be  supposed  to  be  this  library  of 
Hadrian. 

There  is  also  an  inscription  preserved  in  the  Museum 
at  Alexandria  (M.A.  io8),  in  which,  among-  a  long  list 
of  local  officers,  there  are  three  times  mentioned  high 
priests  of  the  Hadrianeion.  This  must  have  been  a 
temple  appropriated  to  the  worship  of  Hadrian,  whose 
deification  is  paralleled  in  the  same  inscription  by  that 
of  Antoninus  and  Trajan,  who  likewise  had  a  high 
priest.  This  temple  would  naturally  be  one  of  the 
earliest  to  be  appropriated  by  the  Christians,  as  it 
would  not  have  anything  like  the  same  force  of  sanctity 
to  preserve  it  as  the  Sarapeion  or  other  temples  of  the 
older  gods  ;  and  it  would  appear  that,  the  worship  of 
Hadrian  having  already  fallen  into  disuse  in  the  time 
of  Licinius,  the  building  had  been  turned  to  the  more 
secular  purposes  of  a  gymnasium. 

It  seems  reasonable,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  the 
Hadrianon  represented  on  the  coins  was  the  library 
of  Hadrian  mentioned  in  the  decree  of  Titianus,  and 
was  a  chapel  attached  to  the  Sarapeion  ;  while  the 
Hadrianon  which,  according  to  Epiphanius,  was  turned 
into  a  church  in  the  time  of  Constantius  H.,  was  a  dis- 
tinct temple,  and  was  the  Hadrianeion  whose  priests 
are  named  in  the  Alexandrian  inscription. 

Note  XHI. — The  Death  of  Antinous. 

The  mystery  which  surrounds  the  death  of  Antinous 
was  possibly  not  unintentional  on  the  part  of  those  con- 
cerned. The  authorities  on  the  question  are,  unfor- 
tunately, all  comparatively  late  in  date ;  and  the  nearest 
approach  to  contemporary  evidence  is  found  in  Dio 
Cassius  (Ixix.  ii),  who  quotes  a  statement  of  Hadrian 
that  Antinous  fell  into  the  Nile.  At  the  same  time  Dio 
states  his  own  belief  that  the  boy  was  sacrificed.  F. 
Gregorovius,  in  his  discussion  of  the  matter  (Hadrian, 
p.  172,  2nd  ed.),  inclines  to  think  that  the  Egyptian 
priests  professed  to  have  discovered  in  the  stars  some 


THE  BUCOLIC  REVOLT 


221 


mischance  which  threatened  the  emperor,  and  could 
only  be  averted  by  the  death  of  his  most  cherished 
favourite  ;  and  thereupon  Antinous  devoted  himself 
to  save  his  master,  with  the  prospect  that  his  death 
would  bring-  him  the  honours  of  deification.  This 
theory  is  not  out  of  consonance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Eg-yptian  religion  of  the  period  ;  but  perhaps  it  is  un- 
necessary to  suppose  that  the  death  of  Antinous  was 
other  than  accidental.  Hadrian,  in  order  to  cover  his 
passionate  grief  at  the  loss  of  his  favourite  (Hist.  Aug. 
Hadrian,  14),  and  to  justify  himself  in  building  a  city 
to  his  memory,  may  have  countenanced  the  elaboration 
of  the  story  of  his  self-sacrifice.  It  is  interesting, 
however,  to  compare  with  the  commonly-received  ac- 
count a  papyrus  from  Bacchias  (discovered  by  Hogarth 
and  Grenfell  in  1896,  and  shortly  to  be  published), 
which  contains  a  copy  of  a  letter  of  Hadrian,  in  which 
he  moralises  on  the  prospect  of  the  continuation  of  life. 


Note  XIV. — The  Bucolic  Revolt. 

The  Bucolic  revolt  is  treated  by  Mommsen  (Roman 
Provinces,  ii.  p.  261)  as  originally  a  rising  of  the 
criminals  who  had  found  a  refuge  in  the  marshes  to 
the  east  of  Alexandria.  But  this  theory  somewhat 
misapprehends  the  significance  of  the  disturbance. 
The  revolt  began  among  the  Bucolic  troops  (Hist.  Aug, 
Aurelius,  21),  who  were  Egyptians,  recruited  for  home 
service,  as  appears  from  a  letter  (B.G.U.  625)  written 
by  a  man  who  had  been  chosen  by  conscription  for  the 
corps,  and  was  going  to  Skenai  Mandrai  to  take  up  his 
military  duties.  It  w^as  therefore  a  much  more  serious 
matter  than  an  outbreak  on  the  part  of  a  body  of 
banditti ;  it  was  a  mutiny  on  the  part  of  the  native 
auxiliaries,  who  were  so  far  representative  of  the  feel- 
ing of  the  country  that  they  were  joined  by  the  neigh- 
bouring population.  The  leader  of  the  revolt,  Isidorus, 
appears  to  have  been  exalted  into  the  position  of  a 
national  martyr  ;  as,  in  a  papyrus  (G.O.P.  i.  33)  which 


222 


NOTES 


IS  almost  certainly  connected  with  the  revolt  of  Avidius 
Cassius,  his  name  is  quoted  by  Appianus,  an  Alex- 
andrian g-ymnasiarch,  as  one  of  his  predecessors  in 
death  on  behalf  of  their  country. 

Note  XV. — Aurelius  Theocritus. 

The  interesting-  papyrus  published  by  J.  Nicole  (Pap. 
Gen.  I,  and  R.A.  1893,  p.  225)  probably  refers  to  the 
events  mentioned  by  Dio  Cassius  under  the  reign  of 
Caracalla.  It  contains  a  letter  written  by  Aurelius 
Theocritus  to  the  strategoi  of  the  Arsinoite  nome,  refer- 
ring to  the  esteem  in  which  Titanianus  (a  high  official, 
since  he  is  g^iven  the  epithet  KpdTL(TTo<;)  was  held  by  the 
emperor,  and  ordering  them  "to  treat  his  people  well, 
not  to  injure  his  property  or  disturb  his  labourers,  and 
to  give  him  every  assistance,"  on  pain  of  the  severest 
displeasure. 

The  emperor  is  mentioned  as  Antoninus  simply  ;  but 
the  name  Aurelius  Theocritus  shows  that  it  is  Caracalla 
rather  than  Antoninus  Pius  who  is  in  question,  as  a 
freedman  of  the  latter  would  have  had  the  gentile  name 
of  ^lius  ;  and  the  tone  of  the  letter  distinctly  suggests 
that  it  was  written  by  one  of  the  freedmen,  who  habitu- 
ally acted  as  secretaries  of  the  emperors.  In  these 
considerations,  there  is  strong  ground  for  identifying 
the  writer  of  the  letter  with  the  freedman  of  Caracalla, 
Theocritus,  mentioned  by  Dio.  It  is  then  very  tempt- 
ing to  attempt  to  find  in  the  Titanianus  of  this  letter 
the  procurator  Titianus,  who  is  reported  to  have  been 
assassinated  by  order  of  Theocritus  for  insulting  him  ; 
and  the  letter  itself  becomes  additionally  interesting, 
as  it  may  have  been  a  prelude  to  the  assassination. 
The  date  of  the  letter  is,  on  this  theory,  9th  June  214. 


THE  EGYPTIAN  "TYRANTS 


223 


Note  XVI. — The  Egyptian  "Tyrants." 

Mommsen  (Roman  Provinces,  ii.  p.  251,  note  i) 
doubts  the  existence  of  the  alleged  Egyptian  tyrants 
^milianus,  Firmus,  and  Saturninus  ;  and  he  assumes 
the  disturbances  which  are  described  as  having-  taken 
place  in  Alexandria  during  the  middle  of  the  third 
century,  beginning  in  the  reign  of  Gallienus,  to  have  all 
belonged  to  the  period  of  the  Palmyrene  occupation  of 
Egypt.  There  is,  however,  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
accounts  given  by  the  ancient  historians  are  more  nearly 
correct  than  Mommsen  would  allow  them  to  be,  and  that 
there  were  two  distinct  wars  in  Egypt  during  this  period: 
one,  during  the  reign  of  Gallienus,  connected  with  the 
revolt  of  ^milianus  ;  and  a  second,  beginning  perhaps 
in  the  last  year  of  Gallienus  and  continuing  till  after 
the  accession  of  Probus,  which  was  waged  by  the 
Romans  against  the  Palmyrene  invaders. 

The  fullest  account  of  the  first  struggle  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Historia  Augusta  (Gallienus,  4  ;  Triginta 
Tyranni,  22).  But  more  important  evidence  is  con- 
tained in  a  letter  of  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
who  died  in  265  :  he  describes  how  the  two  factions 
had  divided  the  town  into  two  hostile  parts,  and 
rendered  the  space  between  their  halves  a  desert 
(Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  vii.  21).  This  is  a  definite  proof 
of  civil  war  in  Alexandria  before  the  Palmyrene  inva- 
sion, as  in  265  the  Palmyrene  government  was  still  on 
terms  of  friendship  with  Rome.  Further,  the  existence 
of  ^milianus  as  a  claimant  to  the  rule  of  Egypt  is 
attested  by  coins,  which  R.  S.  Poole  gives  good 
reasons  for  attributing  to  him  (B.M.  Catalogue  of 
Coins — Alexandria,  Introduction,  p.  xxiv.)  ;  and  the  fact 
of  his  striking  coins  is  sufficient  to  show  him  to  have 
held  possession  of  Alexandria,  where  alone  there  was  a 
mint.  On  these  grounds  there  seems  to  be  a  reasonable 
amount  of  contemporary  support  for  the  account  of  the 
revolt  of  ^milianus  given  in  the  Historia  Augusta. 

Of  the  Palmyrene  invasion  there  is  a  detailed  and 


224 


NOTES 


reliable  account  in  Zosimus  (i.  44,  61).  The  details 
of  the  part  taken  by  Firmus  in  the  war  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Historia  Augusta  (Firmus  ;  Aurelianus,  32)  ; 
and,  in  the  absence  of  any  evidence  to  support  his 
theory,  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  Mommsen  should 
reject  the  whole  account,  as  there  is  nothing-  intrinsic- 
ally improbable  in  the  existence  of  an  Egyptian  leader 
acting  in  alliance  with  the  Blemmyes  and  Palmyrenes. 
He  did  not  rise  to  the  importance  of  a  tyrant" 
of  Egypt  till  after  the  defeat  ot  the  Palmyrenes  ; 
but  when  they  were  driven  out  of  Alexandria  he 
became  the  leader  of  the  opposition  to  the  Romans, 
although  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  was  proclaimed 
emperor.  Vopiscus,  the  writer  of  the  lives  of  Aurelian 
and  Firmus  in  the  Historia  Augusta,  contradicts  him- 
self upon  this  point:  in  one  place  (Aurelianus,  32) 
stating  that  Firmus  ruled  Egypt  without  the  insignia 
of  empire  ;  in  another  (Firmus,  2),  that  he  wore  the 
purple,  called  himself  emperor  in  his  edicts,  and  struck 
coins.  In  the  absence,  however,  of  edicts  or  coins  of 
Firmus,  it  may  be  justifiable  to  doubt  whether  he  did 
assume  the  title  of  emperor. 


Note  XVH. — George  the  Mukaukis. 

The  Arab  account  of  the  conquest  of  Egypt  names  the 
most  important  actor  on  the  Roman  side  as  Al-Mukaukis, 
or,  more  fully,  as  George  son  of  Menas  the  Mukaukis 
(Abu  Salih,  23  a).  He  is  represented  as  the  governor 
of  Egypt,  as  having  invited  the  Arabs  into  the  land, 
and  finally  as  the  betrayer  of  the  country  to  the 
invaders.  There  are,  however,  some  intrinsic  improb- 
abilities in  the  tale  which  have  called  for  explanation. 

Professor  Karabacek  has  discussed  (in  Mittheilungen 
aus  der  Sammlung  der  Papyrus  Erzherzog  Rainer,  i.  i) 
the  position  of  the  Mukaukis,  and  concludes  that  the 
name  was  a  transference  of  the  Greek  honorary  title 
fxeyavxrj'i,  and  that  the  position  of  George  son  of  Menas 
was  probably  that  of  pagarch. 


THE  MUKAUKIS:  VILLAGE  LAXDS 


225 


The  evidence  of  John  of  Nikiou,  however,  which  is 
much  earlier  and  more  reliable  than  that  of  any  Arab 
writer,  throws  a  good  deal  of  light  on  the  question. 
He  states  that,  after  the  battle  of  Heliopolis  (about 
July  640),  when  'Amr  was  preparing  to  besiege  Babylon, 
he  sent  to  George  the  prefect,  and  ordered  him  to  build  a 
bridge  over  the  canal  of  Kalyoub,  north  of  Babylon  ; 
and  George  then  began  to  co-operate  with  him  (John 
of  Nikiou,  113).  In  this  fact  may  be  found  the  origin 
of  the  Mukaukis  story.  George  was  probably  prefect  of 
Augustamnica,  as  his  province  is  not  specified,  and  the 
names  of  the  prefect  of  the  province  of  Egypt  and 
the  prefects  of  Lower  Egypt  and  Arcadia  at  this  time 
are  given  elsewhere  by  John,  His  post  on  the  eastern 
frontier  of  Egypt  would  make  him  the  first  person  of 
high  rank  to  whom  the  messengers  of  Mahomet  came  ; 
and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  earliest  communica- 
tions between  the  Mahometans  and  the  Romans  in 
Egypt  were  carried  on  through  him  ;  and  he  naturally 
assumed  a  position  of  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Arab  chroniclers.  Subsequently,  when  he  went  over 
to  the  Mahometan  side,  he  was  able,  by  commanding 
from  his  province  the  communications  between  Babylon 
and  Alexandria,  to  render  most  valuable  assistance  to 
*Amr  :  and  thus  his  importance  was  further  enhanced. 
The  prominence  given  to  him  in  the  Arab  accounts  is 
doubtless  due  to  these  circumstances. 


Note  XVHI. — Village  Lands  and  the  Corn  Tax. 

A  papyrus  from  Soknopaiou  Nesos,  published  by 
J.  Nicole  (Pap.  Gen.  16,  with  commentary  in  R.A. 
1894,  ii.  p.  34),  shows  that,  in  one  instance  at  least, 
common  land  of  the  village  existed  in  Egypt.  It  is  a 
complaint  from  twenty-five  farmers,  and  in  the  course 
of  the  narrative  it  is  stated  that  there  were  "  a  number 
of  arourai  of  land,  belonging  to  the  village,"  on  the 
shore  of  the  lake  Moeris.  *'When  this  land  is  un- 
covered "  after  the  yearly  flood,     it  is  let  for  cultivation. 


226 


NOTES 


and  the  rent  of  corn  paid  by  the  lessees  is  deposited 
in  the  imperial  g-ranaries,  for  the  purpose  of  defraying 
all  charges  on  the  village.  By  means  of  this  rent  the 
village  has  been  able  to  meet  all  its  liabilities,  both 
public  and  private,"  and  thereby  had  been  free  from 
the  distress  common  in  Egypt  at  the  time. 

This  interesting  document  throws  considerable  light 
on  the  method  of  payment  of  the  tax  of  corn  in  Egypt. 
'Al-Makrizi  (xxvi.)  gives  a  description  of  the  general 
rule  laid  down  by  the  Romans :  the  imperial  officials 
decided  the  amount  to  be  paid  by  each  village,  after 
considering  its  condition  of  prosperity,  and  notified  the 
local  authorities.  These  thereupon  met,  and  divided 
their  assessment  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  village. 
The  papyrus  shows  that  the  amount  assessed  by  the 
representatives  of  the  government  was  regarded  as  the 
common  liability  of  the  village  ;  and  in  such  a  case  as 
that  of  Soknopaiou  Nesos,  where  the  village  had  certain 
common  property,  could  be  wholly  or  partially  met  out 
of  the  proceeds  of  that  property.  It  was  in  accordance 
with  this  principle  that  the  persons  responsible  for  the 
payment  of  the  full  amount  of  the  tax  assessed  were 
the  elected  representatives  of  the  district, — the  elders, 
or,  in  the  case  of  a  town  which  had  been  granted  the 
privilege  of  self-government  by  a  senate,  the  prytaneus, 
— who  were  liable  to  have  their  property  impounded 
till  the  tax  was  paid  (B.G.U.  8). 

Two  Oxyrhynchos  papyri  (G.O.P.  i.  127,  142)  bear  out 
the  statement  of 'Al-Makrizi,  that  the  towns  or  villages 
were  required  to  pay  their  assessed  proportion  of  the 
corn  tax  to  the  authorities  at  Alexandria.  In  these  it 
is  recorded  how  the  towns  of  Oxyrhynchos  and 
Kynopolis  and  the  village  of  Koma  had  sent  their 
quota  down  the  river,  bearing  the  cost  of  freight. 

That  the  village  of  Soknopaiou  Nesos  was  not  unique 
in  having  lands  which  belonged  to  the  village  as  a 
community,  is  shown  by  a  contract  for  leasing  village 
land  at  Obthis  in  the  Hermopolite  nome  (C.P.R.  i.  41), 
and  a  proposal  to  rent  from  the  senate  of  Hermopolis 
certain  land  owned  by  the  city  (C.P.R.  i.  39). 


ANNONA 


227 


Note  XIX. — Annona. 

The  occasional  references  to  payments  of  corn  as 
annona,  found  in  the  papyri,  do  not  furnish  any  definite 
information  upon  this  tax.  It  appears  that  it  ranked 
with  the  other  charges  on  land,  Syj/moa-La  and  o-m/ca 
(B.G.U.  94),  and  that  it  was  collected,  like  them,  in 
corn  by  the  sitologoi  (B.G.U.  336,  529,  534).  The 
rate,  however,  at  which  it  was  assessed  upon  the  land 
cannot  at  present  be  determined.  Its  purpose  may 
possibly  be  conjectured  from  a  reference  in  the  Coptic 
panegyric  of  Victor  the  son  of  Romanus  (Memoires  d. 
1.  Mission  Archeologique  Fran9.  viii.  2,  p.  190),  where 
it  is  stated  that  Victor  received  sixteen  annonae.  This 
suggests  that  the  annona  was  the  allowance  of  corn 
made  by  the  government  to  the  inhabitants  of  Alex- 
andria, which  had  apparently  been  made  continuously 
from  the  time  of  the  Greek  rulers  of  Egypt,  and  v/as 
increased  by  Diocletian  (Procopius,  Arcan.  26).  The 
manner  in  which  the  annona  is  coupled  with  the  epibole, 
or  supply  of  corn  for  the  use  of  Constantinople,  in  the 
recital  of  burdens  on  the  land  in  a  lease,  supports  this 
view  (B.G.U.  519).  And  it  further  appears,  from  the 
recitals  in  leases  (compare  B.G.U.  289  and  519),  that 
the  three  taxes  which  were  imposed  specially  on  the  land 
were  Srjixoa-La,  cnTLKdy  and  annona.  The  first  is  known  to 
refer  to  the  payments  of  corn  into  the  public  granary 
for  the  supply  of  the  next  year's  seed  ;  the  second,  to 
the  contributions  levied  for  the  support  of  Rome,  and 
afterwards  of  Constantinople.  There  is  no  third  object 
recorded  to  which  the  government  turned  the  corn  they 
collected  in  Egypt,  except  that  of  the  grant  to  Alex 
andria.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  this  was  the 
purpose  to  which  the  annona  was  put. 


228 


NOTES 


Note  XX. — Stephanikon 

The  object  of  the  tax  known  as  the  stephanikon  has 
been  discussed  by  F.  G.  Kenyon  (Catalogue  of  Greek 
Papyri  in  B.M.  ii.  p.  107),  who  concludes  that  it  was 
a  continuation  of  the  o-re^avo?, — a  special  present  to  the 
king", — collected  under  the  Ptolemies  ;  or  possibly  a 
revival  of  it  by  Caracalla,  as  the  earliest  receipts  for  it 
(B.G. IJ.  62  ;  Pap.  B.M.  474)  are  dated  in  199.  It  may 
also  be  observed  that,  of  the  nine  extant  documents 
referring  to  this  tax,  seven  fall  within  the  years  199  to 
222, — that  is,  from  the  association  of  Caracalla  in  the 
empire  to  the  death  of  Elagabalus  ;  while  the  other 
two,  which  are  undated,  may  be  taken,  on  palaeo- 
graphical  grounds,  as  belonging  to  the  same  period. 
If,  therefore,  the  tax  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
revived  by  Caracalla,  it  may  also  be  supposed  to  have 
been  abolished  by  Severus  Alexander. 

All  entries  for  payments  of  the  tax  are  in  sums  of 
four  drachmae,  or  multiples  of  that  amount,  with  one 
exception  (B.G.U.  535)  ;  and  this  perhaps  gives  some 
support  to  the  theory  that  the  pretext  of  the  impost 
was  a  special  present, — the  usual  gift  required  being  a 
single  tetradrachm,  which  was  the  only  coin  of  a  higher 
standard  than  copper  struck  in  Egypt,  and  was  the 
commonest  coin  current  in  the  country.  The  payments 
of  the  tax,  however,  were  apparently  not  calculated 
on  an  annual  basis  ;  for  instance,  one  man  paid  thirteen 
tetradrachms  in  the  course  of  twenty  •-  one  months 
(B.G.U.  452). 

Note  XXI. — Rents  paid  for  Land. 

In  the  following  list  are  classified  the  various  records 
of  rents  paid  in  Egypt  during  the  Roman  period.  The 
cases  (i)  in  which  the  rent  is  fixed  by  a  rate  per  aroura, 
and  those  (2)  in  which  it  is  a  certain  proportion  of  the 
produce,  are  separated.    Where  no  remark  is  added  as 


RENTS 


229 


to  the  nature  of  the  crop,  the  land  may  be  presumed  to 
have  been  corn  land  ;  the  rent  was  paid  in  corn,  unless 
otherwise  stated  : — 


I. 


Reference. 

Date. 

Nome. 

Amount  of 
Land. 

Rent. 



B.G.U.  644 

69 

Arsinoite 

20  ar. 

2  art,  perar. 

B.G.U.  538 

100 

do. 

10  ar. 

72!  art. 

l>.Lr.  U .  OOI 

140 

do. 

5 

20  art. 

G.O.P.  i.  loi 

142 

Oxyrhynchite 

38  ar. 

{ 

190  art.  and 
12  drach. 

Pap.  B,  M.  314 

149 

• 

Arsinoite 

7  ar. 

14  art. 

B.G.U.  227 

GO. 

I  ar. 

f 

6  art. 

TO     rt    1  n rl 

C.P.R.  31 

154 

do. 

3 

i 
\ 

23  chol- 
nices  of 
bread. 

d.Lj.  U  .  700 

165 

ClO. 

Q  ar. 

21  art. 

B.G.U.  39 

186 

do. 

5  ar. 

22^  art. 

Pap.  B.M,  350 

212 

do. 

150  ar. 

2  art.  perar. 

C.P.R.  33 

215 

do. 

93  ^1". 

2^  art.  per 
ar. 

C.P.R.  35 

216 

T  r 

Herakieopolite 

6  ar. 

20  art. 

C.  P.  R.  32 

218 

Arsinoite 

12  ar. 

2  art.  perar. 

B.G.U.  633 

221 

do. 

2  ar. 

10  art. 

C.P.R.  36 

225 

Herakieopolite 

I  ar. 

5  art.  barley. 

C.P.R.  37 

do. 

1^  ar. 

32  art. 

CP.K.  30 

263 

Arsinoite 

2  ar. 

{ 

6  art. 

C.P.R.  39 

266 

Hermopolite 

6  ar. 

18  art.  and 
72  drach. 

C.P.R.  40 

301 

Herakieopolite 

\  pastui 

e 

250  drach. 
per  ar. 

C.P.R.  41 

Arsinoite 

9  ar. 

( 

5I  art.  per 
ar. 

G.O.P.  i.  102 

306 

O.xyrhynchite 

/  9  ar. 
t  flax 

I  tal.  ■?wo 
dr.  perar. 

B.G.U.  408 

Arsinoite 

iar. 

art. 

B.G.U.  349 

313 

do. 

2  ar. 

2  art.  perar. 

B.G.U.  411 

314 

do. 

5  ar. 

12^  art. 

3  art,  and  | 

G.G.P.  i.  54 

378 

do. 

40  ar. 

{ 

art.  barley 
per  ar. 

B.G.U.  586 

4th  cent. 

do. 

13  ar. 

i^art.  perar. 

20  art.  for 

watered 

G.G.P.  i.  56 

536 

Hermopolite 

4  ar. 

1 

part,  10 

for  un- 
watered. 

NOTES 


2. 


RcFGrcncG. 

Date. 

N^om  G, 

Amount  of 
Land. 

Rent. 

B.G.U.  197 

17 

Arsinoite 

2  ar. 

§  produce. 

Pap.  B.M.  163 

88 

do. 

/  44  ar. 
vineyard 

§  produce. 

B.G.U.  237 

165 

do. 

far. 

1       J  , 
t  produce. 

G.O.P.  i.  103 

316 

Oxyrhynchite 

f  I  ar. 

\  flax 

J  produce. 

*  produce, 

D  ; 
Kj.Kj.  1  .  1.  5° 

HermopoUte 

0.-  J 
Sl^r.  ^ 

less  18 
carats. 

Pap.  B.M.  113,  iv. 

595 

Arsinoite 

35  ar.  1 

1  produce 
and  §  hay. 

Pap.  B.M.  113,  iii. 

6th  cent. 

do. 

3|ar.  1 

f  produce 
and  f  hay. 

B.G.U.  308 

Byzantine 

do. 

/  40  ar. 

[  pulse 

§  pulse  and 
fr  hay. 

C.P.R.  42 

do. 

Herakleopohte 

22f  ar. 

i  crop. 

APPENDIX  V 


REFERENCES 

CHAPTER  I. 
(^)  Letronne,  Recueil,  p.  140. 

(^)  Tacitus,  Hist.  i.  11,  g-ives  this  side  of  the  question. 
(3)  Ihid.  iii.  48. 

W  Philo,  adv.  Flaccum,  13  (see  ch.  H.  §  11),  illustrates  the 
difficulty. 

(°)  Sec  Dio  Chrysostom,  or.  xxxii.  ad  Alexandrinos. 
(^)  See  ch.  HI.  §  7  for  examples. 
(')  Tacitus,  Ann.  ii.  59. 

(8)  Ibid.  Hist.  i.  II. 

(^)  Dio  Cass.  Iviii.  19  (Severus). 
(^")  Tac.  Hist.  i.  II  (Ti.  Julius  Alexander). 
(")  Philo,  adv.  Flac.  i. 
(12)  Dio  Cass.  Ivii.  17. 

(1^)  C.I.G.  iii.  4956,  4957  (edicts  against  extortion);  comjjare 
G.O.P.  i.  44  (advice  to  lighten  burden  of  tax-farmers). 

0-*^  C.I.G.  iii.  4957  ;  B.G.U.  176,  648  ;  Appendix  HI.  5  (orders  as 
to  exemptions). 

(1^)  B.G.U.  378 (delegation to dikaiodotes), 613 (to prsefectus alee); 
G.O.P.  i.  67  (to  an  ex-magistrate). 

('^)  B.G.U.  113,  114  (as  to  legality  of  marriage  of  soldiers),  614; 
C.P.R.  18;  Pap.  B.M.  177  (disputes  as  to  inheritance) ;  G.O.P.  i. 
38  (lawsuit  as  to  identity  of  a  child),  i.  67,  71  ;  Pap.  B.M.  358 
(concerning  property),  354  (as  to  wrongful  imprisonment). 

(I'^J  B.G.U.  19  (reference  on  a  point  of  legal  interpretation  from 
royal  scribe),  195  (case  to  be  referred  by  epistrategos)  ;  G.O.P.  i. 
97  (reference  from  strategos). 

(1**)  B.G.U.  347  (prefect  at  Memphis),  362  (at  Arsinoe),  525  (at 
Nilopolis). 

^^"i  B.G.U.  325  (negligent  lestopiastai  to  be  sent  bound  to 
prefect). 

(20)  B.G.U.  159,  372  (proclamations  to  those  who  had  fled  to 
escape  liturgies),  256;  C.P.R.  20;  G.O.P.  i.  40  (petitions  to  pre- 
fect against  nominations  to  liturgies). 

(21)  B.G.U.  198,  420;  G.G.P.  ii.  56;  G.O.P.  i.  72  (orders  for 

231 


REFERENCES 


returns  as  to  property) ;  B.G.U.  484  ;  Pap.  B.M.  260  (for  census) ; 
G.O.P.  i.  34V  (order  as  to  keeping  of  records). 

(-^'  B.G.U.  696  (exchang-es  and  enlistments  sanctioned  by  pre- 
fect), 113,  114,  195  (soldiers'  g-rievances)  ;  G.O.P.  (release  from 
service  g-ranted). 

(2^)  See  Appendix  II.  for  a  list  of  known  prefects  and  their  dates. 

(2^)  Seneca,  Cons,  ad  Helv.  xvii.  4. 

W  B.G.U.  288. 

(^^)  The  position  of  the  dikaiodotes  is  discussed  by  Wilcken 
(Observationes  ad  historlam  ^gypti  pro  v.  Rom.)  against  Mar- 
quardt,  and  by  Mitteis  (Herm.  xxx.  p.  564fF.);  see  also  Strabo, 
xvii.  I,  and  B.G.U.  378  (which  proves  the  superior  authority  of 
the  prefect). 

(27)  B.G.U.  327,  and  Note  III.  App.  IV. 

(2S)  B.G.U.  361  ;  Pap.  B.M.  196  (cases  referred  from  strategos). 
(29)  See  Note  I.  App.  IV.  as  to  the  position  of  the  archidikastes. 
(2")  Strabo,  xvii.  i. 

(^^'  G.G.P.  ii.  71  (a  case  from  Kysis  in  the  Oasis),  and  others 
cited  in  Note  I. 
(3-')  B.G.U.  136. 

(^•^)  See  Simaika  (La  Prov.  Rom.  d'Egypte,  part  iv.  ch.  t)  as  to 
the  provinces  and  authority  of  the  epistrategoi. 
(3^)  B.G.U.  19,  168,  340,  462. 

(35)  B.G.U.  15,  194,  235. 

(36)  B.G.U.  43;  G.G.P.  i.  49;  Pap.  B.M.  376. 

(37)  Wilcken  (Hermes,  xxvii.  p.  287  ff.)  has  collected  and  dis- 
cussed most  of  the  evidence  as  to  the  strategoi. 

(3**)  Letronne,  Rech.  129;  C.I.G.  iii.  4722,  4732,  4736  (union  of 
Hermonthite  and  Latopolite  nomes),  5077  (Ombite  and  Hermonthite 
nomes  and  district  of  Thebes);  M.A.  Inscr.  108  (Apollonopolite 
and  Sethroite  nomes). 

(39)  B.G.U.  2,  6,  etc.  (Arsinoite  nome  divided  into  districts  of 
Herakleides  and  Themistos  with  Polemon  ;  united,  B.G.U.  181, 
244) ;  see  Note  II.  App.  IV. 

(■^^)  B.G.U.  2,  72,  589  (complaints  of  trespass),  22,  45,  181,  242 
(of  assault),  46,  321,  663  (of  robbery);  G.G.P.  ii.  61  (of  embezzle- 
ment); Pap.  Gen.  6;  Pap.  B.M.  357  (of  debt);  B.G.U.  361,  448; 
Pap.  B.M.  171  b  (for  opening  of  will). 

(^^)  N.  et  E.  69  (discussed  by  Wilcken,  Philologus,  liii.  'TTrofivrj- 
fxaTLcr/jLoi)  ;  B.G.U.  245. 

(^2)  B.G.U.  136  (powers  delegated  by  archidikastes),  245  (by 
dikaiodotes). 

(^3)  B.G.U.  647  (evidence  of  a  surgeon  as  to  a  wound  taken); 
compare  G.O.P.  i.  51  (report  of  a  physician  on  a  suicide). 

(^^)  Pap.  B.M.  309,  328,  376;  B.G.U.  26,  53,  55,  59,  60,  etc.; 
Pap.  Gen.  5;  G.G.P.  ii.  45,  45a;  G.O.P.  i.  74;  see  introduction 
to  G.G.P.  ii.  55,  and  Kenyon,  Cat.  of  Greek  Papyri,  ii.  18. 

i^^)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957;  compare  G.O.P.  i.  57  (responsibility  of 
strategos  for  payment  of  taxes);  B.G.U.  598;  G.G.P.  ii.  44 
(assessment  of  taxes) ;  B.G.U.  8,  462  (recovery  of  debts). 


REFERENCES 


233 


(46)  B.G.U.  6,  91,  235. 

(4'^)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957  ;  see  also  Note  II.  App.  IV. 

(48)  B.G.U.  473;  G.O.P.  i.  82. 

(49)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957  ;  compare  G.O.P.  i.  61. 

(50)  B.G.U.  26,  51,  52,  53,  55,  59,  60,  etc. 

(51)  B.G.U.  17,  79. 

(52)  B.G.U.  18,  168,  358,  529;  see  also  Note  III.  App.  IV. 
(")  See  Note  II. 

(54)  The  office  of  nomarch  is  discussed  by  Viereck  (Hermes, 
xxvii.  p.  516  ff.). 

(55)  G.G.P.  ii.  44  50  a,  b. 

(56)  B.G.U.  220,  221,  345,  356,  463;  Pap.  B.M.  297b. 

(57)  B.G.U.  8. 

(58)  B.G.U.  8. 

(59)  B.G.U.  8  (irpoeaTwres  rCov  yofxapxiKLov  dcrxo^fj/J-drcou). 
(6")  B.G.U.  73  ;  C.P.R.  18. 

(61)  B.G.U.  184,  240,  379;  Pap.  B.M.  299,  300. 

(62)  B.G.U.  112,  420,  536. 

(63)  B.G.U.  184,  240,  420,  459,  536;  Pap.  B.M.  299,  300  {^ijSXio- 

(6*)  B.G.U.  478,  480  (^il3\L0(pv\aKes  drjixoaiojv  \6ycjv). 

(65)  B.G.U.  6  (at  Mouches  in  the  Arsinoite  nome) ;  Pap.  B.M. 
199  (at  Soknopaiou  Nesos) ;  but  see  Kenyon,  Cat.  of  Papyri  in 
B.M.  ii.  p.  158,  on  the  question  of  income. 

(66)  B.G.U.  214,  345,  381,  382,  431;  G.G.P.  i.  48;  Pap.  B.M. 
255- 

(67)  B.G.U.  148,  195;  compare  Pap.  B.M.  342. 

(68)  G.G.P.  ii.  67. 

(69)  B.G.U.  53,  59,  95,  97,  524,  537,  577;  G.G.P.  i.  45;  Pap. 
Gen.  5  (census  returns  collected  by  village  scribe);  B.G.U.  20, 
139;  Pap.  B.M.  131  (returns  as  to  lands  and  crops);  B.G.U.  84, 
330,  457,  659  (as  to  taxes);  B.G.U.  6,  18,  91,  194,  235  (names 
supplied  for  liturg-ies). 

(7")  B.G.U.  53,  59,  95,  97,  154,  225,  484,  524,  577.  _  ^ 

(71)  The  powers  of  the  agoranomos  are  discussed  by  Mitteis 
(Hermes,  xxx.  p.  564 ff.) ;  see  also  Note  IV.  App.  IV. 

(72)  B.G.U.  177,  193;  N.  et  E.  17;  C.P.R.  6,  7,  8  ;  G.O.P.  i.  73, 
75.  96,  99.  106,  107. 

(73)  G.O.P.  i.  45,  46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  100. 

(74)  B.G.U.  86,  191,  196,  234,  297,  350,  394,  514,  542  ;  Pap.  B.M. 
142,  334,  341,  348. 

(75)  B.G.U.  153;  C.P.R.  i.  4;  Pap.  B.M.  142,  143,  154,  293. 

(76)  The  police  administration  of  Eg-ypt  is  treated  by  Hirschfeld 
(Sitzungsb.  d.  Kaiserl.  Akad.  zu  Berlin,  1892,  p.  815);  see  also 
Note  V.  App.  IV. 

(77)  G.O.P.  i.  80. 

(78)  B.G.U.  6,  147,  148,  321,  374,  375,  376;  G.G.P.  ii.  43,  66; 
Pap.  B.M.  199;  G.O.P.  i.  69,  80. 

(79)  B.G.U.  147,  376  (associated  with  euschemones),  148  (with 
archephodoi). 


234 


REFERENCES 


B.G.U.  147,  376  (euschemones) ;  Pap.  B.M.  199  (eirenophy- 
lakes). 

(81)  B.G.U.  325  (lestopiastai) ;  Pap.  B.M.  199;  G.O.P.  i.  43^ 
(phylakes). 

(82)  B.G.U.  98,  157,  515. 

(8"')  B.G.U.  388  (inventory  taken  by  exeg-etes  of  property  of  a 
dead  man,  probably  a  State  debtor);  G.O.P.  i.  54  (exeg-etes 
asked  to  pay  an  account  on  behalf  of  the  city),  56  (acting-  for 
strategos). 

(8^)  B.G.U.  147,  376  (euschemones  ordered  to  present  a  crimiaal 
in  court),  194  (supplied  names  for  liturg-ies),  381  (received  payment 
of  taxes). 

(85)  C.P.R.  20  (money  spent  on  office  of  kosmetes). 

(86)  B.G.U.  347  (g-ymnasiarch  acting  as  strategos);  G.O.P.  i. 
54,  88. 

(87)  Strabo,  xvii.  i  ;  B.G.U.  250. 

(88)  B.G.U.  15,  25,  41,  42,  etc.  ;  G.G.P.  ii.  52,  62  a;  Pap.  B.M. 
166  a,  258,  306,  etc.  {irpoLKTopcs  apyvpLKwv). 

(89)  B.G.U.  414,  425,  457,  515;  Pap.  B.M.  171a  {irpaKropes 
(TitlkQv). 

(^")  B.G.U.  362  {irpaKTopes  ^aXaveLov). 

(91)  B.G.U.  62,  362,  542,458,  518;  Pap.  B.M.  474,  477  {irpaKTopes 
arecpaviKOv). 

(92)  B.G.U.  194;  compare  B.G.U.  15. 

(93)  Pap.  B.M.  306. 

(9^)  B.G.U.  10,  478,  479,  480. 

(95)  B.G.U.  81,  425  {(TLTOV),  381  {Kpidrjs). 

(96)  B.G.U.  25,  41,  42;  Pap.  B.M.  255. 

(97)  B.G.U.  15,  67,  8i,  188,  etc. 

(98)  B.G.U.  7  (dekaprotoi  sent  in  returns  as  to  cultivators),  552, 
553.  554i  556,  557>  579>  743,  744  (measured  corn  in  granary). 

(99)  C.I.G.  iii.  4867,  4868,  etc.  (Syene) ;  Petrie,  Koptos,  c.  vi. 
No.  4  (Koptos);  Pap.  B.M.  318,  320  (Prosopite  nome). 

(100)  G.O.P.  i.  44. 

(101)  G.I.G.  iii.  4957;  G.O.P.  i.  44. 

(102)  Compare  C.I.G.  iii.  4867,  4876,  4877,  4882,  4885  (tax  col- 
lected by  farmers),  with  C.I.G.  iii.  4870,  4875,  4879,  4880,  4883 
(same  tax  collected  by  praktores). 

(103)  B.G.U.  8. 

(10^)  B.G.U.  8  (epitropos  inquired  into  property  of  State  debtor), 
156  (received  rent  for  State  land),  620  (collected  fines  due  to  the 
imperial  treasury),  648  (issued  order  as  to  work  on  royal  lands) ; 
C.P.R.  I  (sold  confiscated  land). 

(105)  Dio  Cassius,  li.  17  ;  see  also  Note  VI. 

(106)  Strabo,  xvii.  i. 

(10")  C.I.G.  iii.  4957  (exemption  of  Alexandrians  from  taxation); 
Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  vii.  21  (their  sharing  in  corn  distribution); 
Philo,  adv.  Flacc.  10  (privileg-e  as  to  scourging) ;  Pliny,  Ep.  ad 
Traj.  6  (attainment  of  Roman  citizenship). 

108)  Dio  Cassius,  li.  17;  Hist.  Aug.  Sev.  17. 


REFERENCES 


235 


W  C.I.L.  viii.  8934. 

("0)  Strabo,  xvii.  i  ;  see  Note  VI,  App.  IV. 
0")  See  Note  VI.  App.  IV.  ;  Pap.  Gen.  10. 

(112)  C.I.G.  iii.  4679. 

(113)  B.G.U.  362,  586;  C.P.R.  34,  45;  Pap.  B.M.  233,  348. 
(1")  B.G.U.  554;  C.P.R.  35. 

(115)  C.P.R.  8,  9,  10,  35,  39. 

(116)  G.O.P.  i.  55,  56,  59,  60,  77,  80,  87,  103. 

(117)  C.I.G.  iii.  4822,  4823,  4824;  see  Note  VII.  App.  IV. 

(118)  ggg  Notitia  Dignitatum  and  Hieroclis  Sj'necdemus  as  to  the 
higher  officers  of  the  Byzantine  government  in  Egypt  ;  see  also 
Note  VIII.  App.  IV. 

(119)  Pap.  B.M.  234. 

(120)  B.G.U.  305,  320,  366,  396,  403;  Pap.  B.M.  1131°;  see  also 
Wilcken  (Hermes,  xxvii.  p.  287  ff.). 

(121)  B.G.U.  21. 

(12^')  G.O.P.  i.  42,  52,  53,  66,  83,  84,  85,  86,  87;  see  editors 
note  on  42. 

(123)  G.O.P.  i.  66. 

(12^)  Pap.  B.M.  113I0,  408. 

(125)  B.G.U,  21  (ephor  and  quadrarius) ;  Codex  Theod.  xii.  6,  22 
(exactores). 

(126)  Pap.  B.INI.  240,  241,  242,  245,  406,  411,  412. 

(127)  Pap.  B.M.  408. 

(128)  G.O.P.  i.  125. 

(129)  G.O.P.  i.  126. 

(130)  G.O.P.  i.  142,  143. 

(13^)  G.O.P.  i.  133  (see  also  134-139) ;  Codex  Theod., xi.  24.  i,  3. 


CHAPTER  II. 

(132)  See  ch.  I.  §  23. 

(133)  Josephus,  Antiq.  xiv.  7.  2,  xix.  5.  2  ;  compare  Strabo,  xvii.  i, 
and  Philo,  leg.  ad  Gaium,  10. 

(13^)  Dio  Cass.  li.  18. 

(135)  Strabo,  xvii.  i,  53. 

(136)  Strabo,  xvii.  i.  53 ;  Inscription  of  Gallus  from  Philae, 
published  by  Lyons  and  Eorchardt  (Sitzungsb.  d.  Kaiserl.  Preuss. 
Akad.  d.  Wissensch.  zu  Berlin,  1896,  p.  469). 

(137)  Dio  Cass,  liii,  23  ;  Ammianus  Marcell.  xvii.  4. 

(138)  Strabo,  xvii.  i.  53. 

(139)  Suetonius,  Aug.  17,  18. 

(1^°)  Strabo,  xvi.  4.  22  ;  see  also  Mommsen,  Roman  Provinces,  ii. 
p.  290 ff.  (English  trans.),  [whom  I  have  followed  here]. 
(14^)  See  Note  X.  App.  IV. 

(1^)  Strabo,  xvii.  i  ;  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  vi.  181  :  Dio  Cass.  liii.  29. 

(1^)  See  for  illustrations  the  numerous  military  inscriptions  of 
the  first,  second,  and  third  centuries  A.D.,  found  in  the  towns  of 
the  Dodekaschoinoi,  in  C.I.G.  iii.  5042-511 7. 


236 


REFERENCES 


<'^'  C.I.G.  iii.  5080  ;  see  on  this  inscription  Wilcken  in  Hermes, 
xxviii.  p.  154. 

(I'lS)  Tacitus,  Ann.  iv.  5,  compared  with  Strabo,  xvii.  i, 
<^^6)  Dio  Cass.  Ivii.  10. 

(!-»■)  Tacitus,  Ann.  ii.  59,  60,  61  ;  Pliny,  Xat.  Hist.  viii.  185. 

(148)  philo,  adv.  Flacc.  and  leg'atio  ad  Gaium,  and  Josephus, 
Antiq.  xviii.  8,  are  the  authorities  for  the  events  described  in 
§§  9-12.  Their  accounts  have  been  discussed  by  \\'ilcken  (Hermes, 
XXX.  p.  481  ff. ). 

(149;  Josephus,  Antiq.  xix.  5.  2  ;  Zonaras,  vi.  11. 

(150)  B.G.U.  511  ;  see  Wilcken,  Lc. 

(151)  Pliny,  N.H.  vi.  84. 

(152)  Periplus,  26  ;  see  Mommsen,  Rom.  Prov.  ii.  p.  294,  note  i. 

(153)  See  Note  XI.  App.  IV. 
(15^)  Josephus,  Bell.  Jud.  ii.  18. 

(155)  Pliny,  X.H.  vi.  181. 

(156)  Tacitus,  Hist.  i.  31. 

(15')  B.M.  Catalog-ue  of  Greek  Coins — Alexandria,  p.  21. 

(158)  Suetonius,  Xero,  47  ;  Plutarch,  Vit.  Galbae. 

(159)  B.G.U.  189  (dated  7  A.D.). 

(16*^)  Pap.  B.M.  277  (23  A.D.);  B.G.U.  713  (41/2  A.D.). 
(161^  C.I.G.  iii.  4699. 

CHAPTER  III. 

(1^-)  Tacitus,  Hist.  i.  31. 
(163)  Tacitus,  Hist.  ii.  6. 

(1^)  Catalogue  of  Greek  Coins  of  Alexandria  in  B.M.  p.  25  ; 
Pap.  B.M.  260,  261. 

(165;  Tacitus,  Hist.  ii.  79  ;  Suetonius,  \'esp.  6. 
{i'5«)  Tacitus,  Hist.  iii.  8. 
(167)  Suetonius,  Vesp.  7. 

(16-)  Dio  Cass.  Ixvi.  i  ;  Tacitus,  Hist.  iii.  48. 

(169)  Suetonius,  I.e.  ;  Tacitus,  Hist.  iv.  81  ;  Dio  Cass.  Ixvi.  8. 

(I'O)  Dio  Cass.  Ixvi.  8. 

(1^1)  Tacitus,  Hist.  V.  i. 

(!"-)  Suetonius,  Tit.  5. 

(i'^3)  See  R.  S.  Poole  in  introduction  to  Catalogue  of  Greek 
Coins  in  B. M.— Alexandria,  p.  xcvii. 

(174)  Juvenal,  Sat.  xv.  ;  and  see  Petrie,  Xag-ada  and  Ballas, 
p.  65  (as  to  the  identification  of  Ombos). 

(175)  Plutarch,  de  Iside,  72. 
(i"6)  Cassiodorus  Chron. 
(i~)  See  App.  I.  p.  16  . 
(178)  Pliny,  Paneg-yr.  31,  32. 

(i"9)  Eusebius,  H.E.  iv.  2  ;  Dio  Cass.  Ixviii.  32  ;  John  of  Xikiou, 
72  ;  see  also  Butler,  Coptic  Churches,  ch.  iv.  p.  178. 

(180)  Dio  Cass.  Ixix.  1 1  ;  Cassiodorus,  Chron.  See  also  Gregor- 
ovius,  der  Kaiser  Hadrian,  p.  473  ;  and  X'ote  XII.  App.  IV. 

(181)  Historia  Augusta,  Hadr.  20. 


REFERENCES 


237 


(182)  Philostratus,  Vit.  Sophist,  ii.  37.  See  Greg-orovius,  op.  cii. 
p.  313. 

See  R.  S.  Poole,  Cataiogue  of  Greek  Coins  in  the  B.M.— 
Alexandria,  p.  31. 

0^^)  See  Petrie  and  C.  Smith  in  Petrie,  Hawara,  cc.  iii.  and  vi. 
(185)  j3iQ  Cass.  Ixix.   II  ;    Historia  Aug-usta,  Hadr.   14.  See 
Note  XIII.  App.  IV. 

Inscription  in  G.M.,  published  in  R.A.  1870,  p.  314.  See 
Mommsen,  Rom.  Prov.  ii.  p.  297,  note  ;  and  Mahaffy,  Empire  of 
the  Ptolemies,  p.  185  and  note. 
(^«-)  C.I.G.  iii.  4725-4730. 

(188)  Malala,  Chron.  xi.  p.  280  (ed.  Niebuhr) ;  John  of  Nikiou,  74  ; 
see  P.  Meyer  in  Hermes,  xxxii.  p.  224. 

(^^)  See  R.  S.  Poole,  in  Catalogue  of  Greek  Coins  in  B.M. — 
Alexandria,  p.  31. 

(190)  £)Jq  Cass.  Ixxi.  4;  Historia  Augusta,  Aurel.  21.  See  Note 
XIV.  App.  IV. 

(191)  Dio  Cass.  Ixxi.  22  ;  Historia  Augusta,  Aurel.  25  ;  compare 
G.O.P.  i.  33. 

(192)  Historia  Augusta,  Aurel.  26 ;  Dio  Cassius,  Ixxi.  28. 

(193)  Historia  Augusta,  Cassius. 

(^^*)  See  Mommsen,  Rom.  Prov.  ii.  p.  302. 
^95)  Pliny,  N.H.  vi.  loi. 

(196)  B.G.U.  68  (rate,  10  per  cent.;  date,  113  A.D.),  272  (12  per 
cent.,  138),  301  (12  per  cent.,  157),  578  (12  per  cent.,  187);  Pap. 
B.M.  311  (12  per  cent.,  149),  336  (12  per  cent.,  167). 

(19^)  B.G.U.  372. 

('98)  B.G.U.  15  (dated  194);  Pap.  Gen.  16  (207);  B.G.U.  159 
(215). 

(199)  Historia  Augusta,  Comm.  17. 

(200)  B.G.U.  417. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

(201)  B.G.U.  646. 

(202)  B.G.U.  46. 

(203)  Historia  Augusta,  Niger,  10;  Zosimus,  Hist.  i.  8;  Eutropius, 
viii.  18. 

(20^)  Historia  Augusta,  Severus,  8. 

(205)  papyrus  is  dated  by  the  reign  of  Niger  on  3rd  December 
193  (G.G.  P.  ii.  60) ;  another  by  the  reign  of  Severus  on  21st  Feb- 
ruary 194  (B.G.U.  326). 

(20»)  Dio  Cassius,  li.  17,  Ixxv.  31  ;  Historia  Augusta,  Severus,  17. 

(207)  ]3iQ  Cassius,  Ixxvii.  22  ;  Historia  Augusta,  Caracalla,  6. 

(208)  Dio  Cassius,  Ixxvii.  21.    See  Note  XV.  App.  IV. 

(209)  j)io  Cassius,  Ixxviii.  35. 

(210)  Ibid. 

(2")  Dio  Cassius,  Ixxx.  2. 

(212)  Catalogue  of  Greek  Coins  in  the  B.M.— Alexandria,  pp. 
235-239. 


238 


REFERENCES 


(213)  Zosimus,  i.  20;  B.G.U.  8.  See  also  Viereck  on  the  latter 
in  Hermes,  xxvii.  p.  516. 

(21^)  Eusebius,  H.E.  vi.  41  ;  B.G.U.  287. 

(215)  Catalog-ue  of  Greek  Coins  in  the  B.M. — Alexandria,  pp.  298, 
299  ;  inscription  in  Petrie,  Koptos,  eh.  vi.  No.  7;  G.G. P.  i.  50. 

(1216)  Historia  Aug-usta,  Gallienus,  4 ;  Trig-inta  Tyranni,  22 ; 
Eusebius,  H.E.  vii.  21.    See  Note  XVI.  App.  IV. 

(21^)  Zosimus,  i.  44;  Historia  Augusta,  Claudius,  11. 

(218)  Historia  Augusta,  Firmus,  2,  3.  See  Hogarth  in  Petrie, 
Koptos,  p.  34,  and  Note  XVI.  App.  IV. 

(-^^)  Catalogue  of  Greek  Coins  in  the  B.M. — Alexandria,  pp.  309, 
310- 

(220)  Zosimus,  i.  61  ;  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  xxii.  16  ;  Eusebius, 
Hist.  Eccl.  vii.  32. 

(221)  Historia  Augusta,  Aurelianus,  32  ;  Firmus,  5. 

(222)  Zosimus,  i.  71  ;  Historia  Aug-usta,  Probus,  xvii. 

(223)  B.G.U.  475. 

(224)  Historia  Augusta,  Probus,  9. 
(-25)  B.G.U.  8. 

(226)  B.G.U.  200  (price  of  corn,  8  drachmae  an  artaba  in  183), 
14  (16  drachmae  in  255);  G.G. P.  i.  51  (19  drachmse  in  latter  part 
of  third  century). 

(227)  B.G.U.  362  (wages  if-3  drachmae  a  day  in  215),  r4  (6 
drachmae  in  255). 

CHAPTER  V. 

(228)  Procopius,  de  Bell.  Pers.  i.  19 ;  see  also  Letronne,  Recueil, 
ii.  p.  205,  and  Revillout,  R.E.  iv.  p.  156. 

(229)  Malala,  Chronogr.  xii.  p.  308  (ed.  Niebuhr) ;  Eutropius,  ix. 
22,  23  ;  Paulus  Diaconus,  x.  297  ;  John  of  Nikiou,  77. 

(230)  ggg  Poole  in  Catalogue  of  Greek  Coins  in  B.M. — Alexandria, 
pp.  xxv,  xxvi. 

(231)  Procopius,  Arcana,  26. 

(232)  C.I.G.  iii.  4681  ;  see  J.  P.  Mahaffy  in  Athenaeum,  27th 
February  1897,  and  Cosmopolis,  April  1897  ;  and  in  reply  to  him, 
W.  M.  F.  Petrie  in  Athenaeum,  loth  April  1897. 

(2^3)  ggg  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  ch. 
xiii. 

(234)  Eusebius,  H.E.  viii.  8 ;  Coptic  Paneg-yric  of  Victor  in 
M^moires  de  la  Mission  Arch^ologique  Fran^aise,  viii.  2. 

(235)  Lactantius,  de  mort.  persecut. 
(■-36)  Zosimus,  ii.  17. 

(237)  Zosimus,  ii.  22. 

(238)  Socrates,  H.E.  i.  5;  Sozomen,  H.E.  i.  15;  Theodoret, 
H.E.  i.  I. 

(239)  Socr.  i.  9;  Soz.  i.  21  ;  Theod.  i.  8. 
(246)  Socr.  i.  27  ;  Soz.  ii.  22  ;  Theod.  i.  25. 

(241)  Socr.  ii.  3;  Soz.  iii.  2  ;  Theod.  ii.  i. 

(242)  Socr.  ii.  9 ;  Soz.  iii.  5  ;  Theod.  ii.  3.  ... 


REFERENCES 


239 


(2-13)  Socr.  ii.  22  ;  Soz.  iii.  20  ;  Theod.  ii.  6. 
(2^^)  Socr.  ii.  26;  Soz.  iv.  9;  Theod.  ii.  10. 

(^^^)  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  xxii.  11;  Socrates,  H.E.  iii.  2; 
Sozomeii,  H.E.  v.  7;  Theodoret,  H.E.  iii.  14. 

Socrates,  H.E.  iii.  4.  15;  Sozomen,  H.E.  v.  7,  15;  Theo- 
doret, H.E.  iii.  2.  5  ;  Julian,  Ep.  ad  Ecdicium. 

(247)  Theodoret,  H.E.  iv.  2;  Sozomen,  H.E.  vi.  5. 

Socrates,  H.E.  iv.  13.  20;  Sozomen,  H.E.  vi.  12.  19,  20; 
Theodoret,  H.E.  iv.  18. 

(-"'^)  Codex  Theodos,  xii.  i.  6'^. 

(-s'^)  Socrates,  H.E.  iv.  37;  Theodoret,  H.E.  420. 

(=51)  Socrates,  H.E.  i.  19;  Athanasius,  Apol.  i.  21;  Philostorgius, 

iii.  4. 

(25-)  Codex  Theodos.  xi.  24.  i. 

(■-53)  Codex  Theodos.  xii.  18.  i,  xii.  i.  63. 

(25^'  Codex  Theodos.  xi.  2. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

(255)  Zosimus,  iv.  30. 

(256)  ggg  Mommsen,  Hermes,  xix.  p.  218. 

(257)  Codex  Theodos.  xvi.  i.  2. 

(258)  Socrates,  H.E.  v.  16;  Sozomen,  H.E.  vii.  15;  Zosimus, 

iv.  37. 

(25a)  Socrates,  H.E.  vi.  7. 

(260)  Socrates,  H.E.  vii.  7. 

(261)  Eutychius,  Annales,  i.  548  (ed.  Migne)  ;  Theophanes, 
Chronogr.  70. 

(26-')  Socrates,  H.E.  vii.  13. 

(263)  Socrates,  H.E.  vii.  15;  Theophanes,  Chronogr.  71. 

(264)  Evagrius,  H.E.  i.  7;  Coptic  Life  of  Schnoudi  (in  M^moires 
de  la  Mission  Archeol.  Francaise,  iv.),  fol.  53  r. 

(265)  Priscus,  frag.  21  (ed.  Miiller) ;  Jordanes,  de  success  rcgn.  ; 
with  Letronne's  comments  in  Recueil,  ii.  p.  205  ff.  See  also 
L.  Stern  in  R.E.  ii.  p.  240,  on  a  fragment  of  an  epic  poem  relating 
to  this  war. 

(266)  Priscus,  frag.  22  (ed.  Miiller)  ;  Eutychius,  Ann.  ii.  96 ; 
Evagrius,  H.E.  ii.  5. 

(267)  Evagrius,  H.E.  ii.  8;  Eutychius,  Ann.  ii.  loi  ;  Theophanes, 
Chronogr.  95. 

(268)  Evagrius,  H.E.  iii.  4;  Eutychius,  Ann.  ii.  105. 

(269)  Evagrius,  H.E.  iii.  12;  Eutychius,  Ann.  ii.  108. 

(270)  Evagrius,  H.E.  iii.  23. 
(27^)  Eutychius,  Ann.  ii.  132. 

(272)  ^^onnosus,  ap.  Photium. 

(273)  Theophanes,  Chronogr.  ;  Paulus  Diac.  xvi.  471. 

(27^)  Coptic  life  of  Schnoudi,  fol.  53  r.  ;  Arabic  life  (in  same  vol. 
of  Mt^moires),  p.  396. 

(275)  Coptic  life  of  Schnoudi,  fol.  47  v.  ;  Arabic  life,  p.  380 

(276)  Codex  Theodos.  xiv.  262. 


240 


REFERENCES 


CHAPTER  VII. 

i-''"')  Eutychius,  ii.  152. 

(278)  Ibid.  ii.  153. 

(279)  /^/^^  ii,  i5i.  See  G.  Lumbroso,  Aneddoti  di  Archeologia 
Alessandrina,  p.  12. 

(280)  JVlalala,  xviii.  p.  433  ;  Paulus  Diac.  xvi.  461  ;  Jolin  of 
Nikiou,  90. 

(281)  Procopius,  de  bello  Persico,  i.  20  ;  Nonnosus  (apud  Photium). 
See  also  Beazley,  Dawn  of  Modern  Geography,  pp.  184  and  208, 

(2S-2)  Procopius  de  hello  Persico,  i.  20.  See  on  this,  Letronne, 
Materieux  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  do  I'Eg-ypte,  ii.,  and  Revillout 
in  R.E.  iv.  p.  156. 

(283)  C.I.G.  iv.  8646. 

(284)  John  of  Nikiou,  95. 

(285)  John  of  Nikiou,  97. 

(286)  John  of  Nikiou,  107. 

(287)  John  of  Nikiou,  108. 
(-88)  Eutychius,  ii.  217. 

(289)  Paulus  Diac.  xviii.  579. 

(290)  John  of  Nikiou,  iii,  112.  See  also  E.  W.  Brooks,  in  Byzan- 
tinische  Zeitschrift,  iv.  p.  435,  on  the  chronology  of  the  conquest 
of  Egypt. 

(291)  John  of  Nikiou,  113.    See  Note  XVII.  App.  IV. 

(292)  John  of  Nikiou,  114. 

(293)  John  of  Nikiou,  1 1 6- 1 1 8. 

(294)  John  of  Nikiou,  119,  120. 

(295)  John  of  Nikiou,  120. 

(296)  Justinian,  Edict  XIII. 
(29')  See  ch.  I.  §  30. 

(298)  John  of  Nikiou,  119. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

(299)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957;  Dio  Cass.  Ivii.  10. 
m  See  ch.  I.  §§  4,  7,  8,  10,  19. 

(301)  Pap.  B.M.  267;  B.G.U.  563. 
(3"2)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957. 
(3«3)  See  Note  XVIII.  App.  IV. 
(^'o^)  Pap.  B.M.  267. 

(305)  ggg  f^Yi.  I.  §  19;  and  Kenyon,  Catalogue  of  Greek  Papyri 
in  B.M.  ii.  p.  88. 

(306)  E.g-.  B.G.U.  64. 

(307)  B.G.U.  15;  Pap.  B.M.  295,  197. 

(308)  Pap.  B.M.  256Ra;  G.O.P.  i.  63,  127R,  142. 

(309)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957. 

(310)  B.G.U.  414;  Pap.  B.M.  367a.  See  also  Kenyon's  note 
on  the  latter. 

(311)  See  Note  XIX.  App.  IV. 

(312)  See  Viereck,  Hermes,  xxx.  p.  107. 


REFERENCES 


241 


(313)  B.G.U.  457;  Pap,  B.M.  193.  See  also  Kcnyon's  note  on 
the  latter. 

(^^»)  B.G.U.  64,  534,  652  ;  Pap.  B.M.  347. 

(315)  B.G.U.  141. 

(316)  Pap.  B.M.  119. 
(31')  B.G.U.  657. 

(318)  G.G.P.  ii.  56. 

(319)  B.G.U.  572,  574,  662  ;  Pap.  B.M.  193,  380,  451  ;  C.P.R.  i. 

(320)  Pap.  B.M.  193  ;  see  also  Kenvon's  note. 

(321)  B.G.U.  563,  572,  573,  574;  Pap.  B.M.  451. 

(322)  B.G.U.  41,  216,  6s3. 

(323)  B.G.U.  236,  330,  342  ;  Pap.  B.M.  380,  451  ;  C.P.R.  i. 

(324)  B.G.U.  25. 

(325)  B.G.U.  41,  63,  199,  292,  382  ;  Pap.  B.M.  255,  312. 

(326)  B.G.U.  41,  199V,  219,  461,  521,  654;  Pap.  B.M.  319,  323, 
468;  G.G.P.  ii.  48,  52. 

(327)  G.G.P.  il.  52. 

(328)  ggg  Kenyon,  Catalogue  of  Greek  Papyri,  ii.  p.  79. 

(329)  B.G.U.  51,  52,  192,  266,  352,  353,  354,  355,  357,  358,  421  ; 
G.G.P.  ii.  45,  45a  (camels);  B.G.U.  133  (sheep  and  goats). 

(330)  See  Wilcken,  Hermes,  xxviii.  p.  230  ;  and  Kenyon,  Catalogue 
of  Greek  Papyri,  ii.  pp.  17,  20,  43. 

(331)  See  examples  in  the  ostraka  published  by  S.  Birch,  P.S.B.A. 
V.  pp.  84,  124,  158;  also  Pap.  B.M.  170,  340.  Compare,  however, 
Kenyon,  Catalogue  of  Greek  PapjTi,  ii.  p.  53. 

(332)  Kenyon,  op,  cit.  p.  18;  Grenfell,  G.G.P.  ii.  55,  note. 
Examoles  of  census  returns  are,  Pap.  B.M.  476  a  (for  year  103/4)  J 
B.G.U.  53,  420(131/2),  95,  137(145/6);  G.G.P.  ii.  55;  B.G.U.  54, 
58(159/60);  Pap.  Gen.  18;  B.G.U.  59(173/4),  60,  115,  116(187/8), 
97»  129,  577  (201/2). 

(333)  B.G.U.  79,  no. 

(33^)  Josephus,  Bell.  Jud.  ii.  16. 

(335)  See  Kenyon,  Catalogue  of  Greek  Pap3'ri,  ii.  p.  44. 

(336)  Pap.  B.M.  347. 

(337)  B.G.U.  62,  268,  362,  452,  458,  518,  535  ;  Pap.  B.M.  474,  477. 
See  Note  XX.  App.  IV. 

(338)  See  the  ostraka  published  by  Birch,  as  above  ;  also  B.G.U. 
220,  221,  277,  756  {oXl^wv),  9,  II.  (^a0ea;v),  337  (7fa0eW),  9 
(ypin-oTTwXcDi'),  i;  Pap.  B.M.  255;  (^urT/pd)  B.G.U.  10,  25,  199^,  277, 
652  {^u}ypd(pcjv),  485  (IxOvrjpds),  617;  G.G.P.  ii.  60  (kotttjs  rp^xjs)  ; 
B.G.U.  9,  iv.  {Kopadruv),  337  {\axo.voirui\Qiv),  9,  i.  (/jLvpoTrooKdv),  199^, 
212,  653  {ttXolcov),  10,  337  [irXoLwu  dXievriKtov),  337,  {rapLxexrrQv). 

(339)  Ostraka  found  at  Syene,  C.I.G.  iii.  4863-4889  and  else- 
where. 

(340)  Petrie,  Koptos,  c.  vi. 

(341)  G.G.P.  ii.  50;  B.G.U.  724;  Pap.  B.M.  2o6d,  307,  316b.  c, 
469  a,  b. 

(342)  Strabo,  xvii.  i. 

(343)  /did. 

(344)  Published  by  D.  G.  Hogarth  in  Petrie,  Koptos,  c.  vi. 
V — 16 


2/\2 


REFERENCES 


(3-15)  G.G.P.  ii.  58;  Pap.  B.M.  318,  320. 

W  G.G.P.  ii.  50  a,  b,  f,  g-,  h,  i,  m;  Pap.  B.M.  206  d,  307, 
316  b,  c. 

C^^"')  B.G.U.  724. 

(348)  G.G.P.  ii.  50c  ;  Pap.  B.M.  469a. 

(^49)  See  E.E.F.  Report,  1896,  p.  18. 

(350)         Mommsen,  Roman  Provinces,  ii.  p.  299. 

(35^)  G.O.P.  i.  44. 

(352)  B.G.U.  748  II.;  G.O.P.  i.  96,  99;  Pap.  B.M.  297  b;  see  also 
Kenyon's  note  on  the  last. 

(353)  B.G.U.  240,  326,  340. 

(354)  B.G.U.  96,  326,  338. 

(355)  B.G.U.  567,  568. 

(356)  B.G.U.  350,  542,  667  ;  C.P.R.  i.  4,  9,  10. 

(357)  C.I.G.  iii.  4956. 

(358)  G.G.P.  ii.  80,  81,  81  a,  82. 

(359)  G.O.P.  i.  86. 

(360)  See  eh.  I.  §§  8,  19. 

(361)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957. 

(362)  Pap.  B.M.  306. 

(363)  C.I.G.  iii.  4957. 

(364)  B.G.U.  194. 

(365)  B.G.U,  180. 

(^66)  B.G.U.  658,  722,  733;  G.G.P.  ii.  53a-g;  Pap.  B.M.  139b, 
165,  i66b,  316a,  321  a-c,  325. 

(367)  B.G.U.  99,  359,  391,  704;  Pap.  B.M.  296,  337. 

(368)  Pap.  B.M.  113;  G.O.P.  i.  43,  60. 

(369)  G.O.P.  i.  43. 

(370)  G.G.P.  ii.  95. 

(371)  Codex  Theodos.  vii.  6. 

(372)  B.G.U.  362. 

(373)  B.G.U.  199,  292,  337  ;  Pap.  B.M.  460,  478. 

(374)  B.G.U.  T99V,  337;  Pap.  B.M.  347. 

(375)  Pap.  B.M.  460. 

(376)  B.G.U.  383,  463,  718;  Pap.  B.M.  472. 

(377)  B.G.U.  337. 

(3^^«)  B.G.U.  337,  471 ;  Pap.  B.M.  352. 

(■^'9)  B.G.U.  707;  and  see  Wilcken,  Hermes,  xxii.  p.  142. 

(380)  B.G.U.  181,  234,  475. 

(381)  B.G.U.  156,  462  ;  C.I.G.  iii.  4957  ;  Dio  Cassius,  Ixvi.  8. 

(382)  B.G.U.  6c6. 
(3S3)  C.I.G.  iii.''47i3. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

(384)  See  I".  Krebs,  Zeitschrift  fur  ^g".  Sprache,  xxxi.  p.  31. 

(385)  B.G.U.  i.  296;  Pap.  B.M.  353. 

(386)  App.  III.  No.  I. 

(387)  App.  III.  No.  5. 

(388)  B.G.U.  16,  149. 


REFERENCES 


243 


(389)  B.G.U.  28. 

W  B.G.U.  16. 

(=531)  E.g.  B.G.U.  86. 

(■'»■-)  E.g.  Pap.  B.M.  258,  11.  206,  208. 

(393)  B.G.U.  16. 

(3")  B.G.U,  82. 

(395)  B.G.U,  I,  149;  see  cli.  VIII.  §  19. 

(396)  B.G.U.  194;  App.  III.  No.  5. 

(397)  See  ch.  VIII.  §  II. 

(398)  See  ch.  VIII.  §  19. 

(399)  B.G.U.  229,  230. 

(^^^o)  B.G.U.  296;  Pap.  B.M.  3C3. 
(^0^)  B.G.U.  337. 

(■•02)  See  E.E.F.  Report,  1896,  p.  15;  B.G.U.  124,  707. 
(«3)  See  E.E.F.  Report,  1896,  p.  18. 
(^0^)  B.G.U.  471. 
(«5)  B.G.U.  488. 

(^06)  B.G.U.  149,  248,  337,  362,  479,  748  II.;   Pap.  B.M.  262, 

299»  345- 

(^07)  inscr.  P.S.B.A.  xi.  228. 

(408)  C.I.G.  iii.  471 1. 

(409)  C.I.G.  iii.  4955- 

(410)  G.O.P.  1.43^,46,  47. 

(411)  C.I.G.  iii.  5042-5070. 

(412)  C.I.G.  iii.  5032,  5033. 

(415)  C.I.L.  iii.  79;  C.I.G.  iii.  5074-5106. 

(414)  C.I.G.  iii.  4714;  Letronne,  Recueil,  DCXIV.  seqq.  ;  R.E.G. 
iv.  p.  46,  No.  V.  I. 

(415)  C.I.G.  iii.  4716. 

(416)  £^  B.M.  Catalogue  of  Greek  Coins — Alexandria,  287,  572. 

(417)  C.I.L.  iii.  75. 

(418)  See  R.  S.  Poole,  Introduction  to  B.M.  Cat.  of  Greek  Coins 
— Alexandria,  p.  xcix. 

(419)  C.I.G.  iii.  4683. 

(420)  C.I.G.  iii.  4713. 

(421)  B.M.  Catalogue,  744,  1102,  1362. 

(422)  G.M.  301  ;  G.G.P.  ii.  p.  85. 

(423)  B.M.  Catalogue,  533. 
(42^)  B.M.  Catalogue,  126-131. 

(425)  C.I.L.  iii.  75. 

(426)  B.M.  Catalogue,  132-135. 

(^27)  B.M.  Catalogue,  929,  930,  etc.;  ibid.  427,  1041,  etc.;  App.  III. 
No.  3. 

(4-8)  C.I.G.  iii.  4839. 

(429)  Letronne,  Recueil,  No.  DXLVII. ;  App.  III.  No.  6. 
'430)  B.C.H.  1896,  p.  169. 

(431)  B.M.  Catalogue,  936,  937. 

(432)  B.M.  Catalogue,  141-144. 

(433)  £^  B.M.  Catalogue,  583,  1257. 
(43-1)  B.'M.  Catalogue,  586,  938. 


244 


REFERENCES 


(^35)  E.g.  B.M.  Catalogue,  585,  1404. 

(■^=^'')  B.M.  Catalog-ue,  1191. 

(■^•'')  B.M.  Cataloi,me,  pp.  353,  360. 

i^^'^)  See  R.  S.  Poole,  Introduction  to  B.M.  Catalog-ue,  p.  xlv, 
(^39)  B.M.  Catalogue,  p.  354. 
(440)  B.M.  Catalog-ue,  2173,  2313. 
(•1^1)  B.M.  Catalogue,  700. 
(442)  B  ]y[_  Catalogue,  134^. 

(^3)  G.O.P.  i.  114;  B.C.H.  1896,  p.  248;  ibid,  p.  167. 
(^^-i)  B.G.U.  471. 

(^^•5)  E.g.  B.M.  Catalogue,  138,  575. 

B.M.  Catalogue,  69. 
(■i-*^)  B.M.  Catalogue,  916. 
(^^8)  B.  M.  Catalogue,  407. 
(^^9)  B.M.  Catalogue,  408,  582. 
(^50)  B.M.  Catalogue,  451. 
(451)  App.  III.  No.  4. 
^•52)  B.G.U.  248. 

B.M.  Catalogue,  2543. 
(454)  B.M.  Catalogue,  1047-10^7. 
(^55)  Published  by  J.  Baillet  in^R.A.  1880,  p.  70. 
^^'^)  E.g.  B.M.  Catalogue,  703,  947,  1708. 
(45'^)  Tacitus,  Hist.  iv.  84. 

(^■'58)  Tacitus,  Hist.  iv.  83  ;  Plutarch,  de  Iside  et  Osiride,  28. 
(4.59)  B.M.  Catalogue,  1193. 
W  B.  M.  Catalogue,  875. 

(461)  See  Note  XI. 

(462)  G.O.P.  i.  43V,  98,  99,  104,  no. 

(463)  C.I.G.  iii.  4948. 

(464)  C.I.G.  iii.  4839. 

(465)  B.G.U.  73,  136,  338,  362,  455;  Pap.  B.M.  445. 

(466)  B.G.U.  276,  332,  333,  384,  385,  449,  451,  623,  625,  714;  as 
against  B.G.U.  229,  230. 

(467)  B.  M.  Catalogue,  540,  879. 

(468)  ^ B.M.  Catalogue,  305,  750;  see  Introduction,  p.  Ixiii. 

(469)  App.  III.  No.  10. 

(47*')  B.M.  Catalogue,  1121,  1339. 

(471)  C.I.G.  iii.  4683b. 

(472)  C.I.G.  iii.  4713b. 

(473)  Pap.  B.M.  345. 

(474)  G.O.P.  i.  34V. 

(475)  B.G.U.  i.  296;  Pap.  B.M.  353. 

(476)  B.G.U.  337. 

(477)  C.I.G.  iii.  51  15. 

(478)  C.I.G.  iii.  4948,  4839. 

(479)  C.I.G.  iii.  4715. 

(•180)  App.  III.  Nos.  2,  3,  9,  II  (Apollinopolis) ;  No.  7  (Pathyra). 

(481)  G.O.P.  i.  43'. 

(482)  Letronne,  Recueil,  cviii-clii. 

(483)  See  ch.  VI.  §  10. 


REFERENCES 


245 


(484] 
(485; 
(486 
(487 
(488 
(489 
(490, 
(491 
(492 


See  Introduction  to  B.M.  Catalog-uc,  pp.  Ixiv-lxvi. 
M.A.  inscription  C. 
B.G.U.  I. 
B.G.U.  362. 
App.  III.  No.  2. 
Pap.  B.M.  345. 

See  Petrie,  Relig-ion  and  Conscience,  p.  45. 
E.g.  B.M.  Catalogue,  625. 
E.g.  B.M.  Catalogue,  626. 
Petrie,  Koptos,  p.  22. 

See  R.  S.  Poole,  Introduction  to  B.M.  Catalogue,  p.  Ixviii. 
B.M.  Catalogue,  1197. 

See  R.  S.  Poole,  Introduction  to  B.M.  Catalogue,  p.  Ixxi. 
B.M.  Catalogue,  881. 

E.g.  B.M,  Catalogue,  639,  473,  647.    The  full  number  of 
sixteen  cubits  appear  on  a  billon  coin  of  Domitian  in  the  Bodleian  ; 
le  specimen  is  too  worn  to  give  a  good  illustration. 
E.g.  B.M.  Catalogue,  28,  1161. 
E.g.  B.M.  Catalogue,  1158. 

B.  G.U.  362. 
G.O.P.  i.  43\ 

Philo,  leg.  ad  Gaium,  20,  43  ;  Tacitus,  Hist.  iv.  81. 

C.  I.G.  iii.  4715. 

Lumbroso,  Documenti  Greci  del  R.  Mus.  Egizian'o  di  Torino, 
II. 

C.I.G.  iii.  4699. 
M.A.  108. 

Pap.  B.M.  317;  G.O.P.  i.  43^. 
C.I.G.  iii.  5900. 
B.G.U.  82,  347. 
B.G.U.  362-5. 

Philo,  de  vita  contemplativa. 
Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  ii.  16. 
Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  iv.  7. 
Eutychius,  Ann.  i. 
Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  vi.  6. 
Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  vi.  i. 
Eutychius,  Ann.  i. 
Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  vi.  40,  vii.  11. 
Butler,  Coptic  Churches,  i.  p.  228. 
G.O.P.  i.  43^ 

Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccl.  viii.  8. 
Socrates,  Hist.  Eccl.  vii.  15. 

Mt^moires  d.  1.  Mission  Arch^ologique,  iv..  Panegyric  of 
Macarius,  130  f. 

(525)  M^moires  d.  I.  Miss.  Arch.  iv. ,  Coptic  Life  of  Schnoudi, 
foil.  50 V,  65  V  ;  Arabic  Life,  pp.  385,  386,  425. 


(494; 
(495 
(496] 
(497 
(498] 


but  t 

(499 
(500 
(501 ; 
(502 
(503 
(504; 
(505; 

App. 

(506; 
(507; 
(508] 
(509] 
(510 
(511 
(512 
(513 
(514 
(515 
(516 
(517 
(518 
(519 
(520 
(521 
(522 
(523 
(.524; 


(526, 
(527; 


Ihid.  Arabic  Life,  p.  387  ;  fragment,  5  B,  col.  2. 
Zosimus,  iv.  37. 
Priscus,  fr.  21. 


246 


REFERENCES 


(529)  gg^  Petrie,  Relig-ion  and  Conscience,  p.  46. 

(530)  Cod.  Theod.  V.  3. 

(^2^)  Cod.  Theod.  xii.  i.  63. 

(532)  Butler,  Coptic  Churches,  i.  c.  4. 

(533)  Mem.  d.  1.  Miss.  Archt^ol.  iv.,  Arabic  Life  of  Schnoudi,  p. 
396. 

(.334)  Eutychius,  Ann.  ii.  161. 


CHAPTER  X. 

(•535)  G.O.P.  i.  43. 

(536)  G.O.P.  i.  42  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation). 

(537)  G.O.P.  i.  59  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation). 

(538)  G.O.P.  i.  138  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation). 

(539)  G.O.P.  i.  152. 
(•^^o)  G.O.P.  i.  145. 

(5^1)  John  of  Nikiou,  119. 
(5^-^)  G.G.P.  ii.  67. 

(543)  G.O.P.  i.  110  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation). 

(544)  G.O.P.  i.  Ill  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation). 

(545)  G.O.P.  i.  112  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation). 

(546)  E.E.F.  Report,  1896,  p.  17. 

(547)  Cecil  Smith  in  Petrie,  Hawara,  ch.  vi. 
(o48)  ggg  f-Qj.  example  fig's.  71,  73. 

(549)  See  for  examples  fig-.  56. 

(550)  See  fig-.  17. 

(551)  See  fig.  87. 

(552)  B_G.  U.  362,  vii.  There  are  several  heads  in  the  Museum 
at  Alexandria. 

(553)  E.^.  fig-.  61. 
(5-54)  Fig-.  63. 

(555)  G.O.P.  i.  66. 

(.556)  Hist.  Aug-.  Saturninus,  8. 

(■'^■57)  See  Mommsen,  Rom.  Prov.  ii.  p.  254. 

(558)  Hist.  Aug.  Aurel.  45. 

(559)  E.g.  B.G.U.  426;  Pap.  B.M.  257. 

(560)  G.O.P.  i.  84. 

(■5°i)  G.O.P.  i.  85  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation). 

Prof.  Petrie,  however,  remarks  on  this,  "  Either  the  denarius 
was  a  ridiculously  small  money  of  account,  or  else  the  'pound'  is 
misread.  It  should  be  either  600  pounds  or  else  10  denarii  by 
value.  Six  pounds  is  a  ridiculously  small  stock  for  a  whole  guild. 
I  should  emend  it  as  600  pounds  or  6  talents." 

(562)  G.O.P.  i.  83  (Grenfell  and  Hunt's  translation) 

(563)  Pap.  B.M.  131. 

(564)  B.G.U.  14. 

(565)  See  B.G.U.  84. 

(566)  G.O.P.  i.  102,  103. 

(567)  E.g.  B.G.U.  166. 

(.568)  gee  Note  XXI.  App.  IV. 


REFERENCES 


2.17 


(569)  Pap.  B.M.  13 1 ^ 

(570)  See  ch.  VIII.  §  17. 

(571)  B.G.U.  362,  viii. 

(572)  B.G.U.  14. 

(573)  See  ch.  I.  §  3. 
(57^)  B.G.U.  22.  ' 

(575)  G.G.P.  ii.  78. 

(576)  Mem.  d.  1.  Miss,  Archi^ol.  iv.,  Arabic  Life  of  Schnoudi, 
P-  .'^.S6. 

(577)  Ihid.  Coptic  Life,  fol.  26. 


INDEX 


Abraham,  ruler  of  Homeritae, 
defeats  Axumitae,  109. 

Abyssinia,  embassy  to,  109. 

Adane,  destruction  of,  34. 

Administration  of  justice,  pre- 
fect at  head 
of,  3- 

,,  dikaiodotes,  as- 

sessor of  pre- 
fect in,  4. 

,,  position  of  archi- 

dikastes  in,  4. 

,,  local  authority  of 

epistrategos 
in,  5- 

,,  position  of  stra- 

tegos  in,  5. 

,,  duties  of  elders, 

7- 

, ,  entrusted  to  mili- 

tary officials,  9-13. 
V.  Police, 
^lius  Gallus,  prefect,  made  ex- 
pedition into  Arabia,  20. 
^milius    Rectus,    prefect,  re- 
buked by  Tiberius.  25. 
Ethiopians,  treaty  of  Gallus 
with,  19. 
,,         invaded  Upper 

Egypt,  21. 
,,         defeated  by  Pet- 

ronius,  21. 
,,  made  terms  with 

Rome,  23. 
,,  invasion  proposed 

by  Nero,  36. 
Agoranomos,  position  and  duties 


Agoranomos  at  Alexandria,  11. 
Agriculture,  irrigation,  164. 
,,         crops,  165. 
,,         terms  of  leases  of 
lands,  165. 
Agrippa,  riots  caused  in  Alex- 
andria by  visit  of, 
29. 

,,       secured  restoration  of 
Jewish  privileges,  32. 
Agrippa  the  younger,  king  of 
Chalkis,    complained   of  by 
Alexandrian  Greeks,  33. 
Alexander  Severus,  reign  of,  73. 

,,       and  Epaga- 

thus,  74. 
Alexandria,  local  government 
of,  II. 

,,  privileges  of  citi- 

zenship at,  1 1. 
,,  position  of,lowered 

by  Augustus,  16. 
,,  senate  at,  restored 

by  Severus,  1 1. 
,,  anti- Jewish  riots 

at,    under  Cal- 
igula, 29. 
,,  riots  provoked  by 

Jews  at, 
underClau- 
dius,  31. 
,,  under  Nero, 

35- 

,,     under  Tra- 
.  jan,  52. 
,,  buildings  restored 

by  Hadrian,  54. 
,,  riots  at,  61. 


250 


INDEX 


Alexandria,   sacked   by  Cara- 
calla,  71. 
,,  revolted  against 

Gallienus,  77. 
,,  occupied   by  Pal- 

myrenes,  80. 
,,  captured  by  Dio- 

cletian, 86. 
and  Arian  contro- 
versy, 88  et  seq. 
patriarchs  of,  and 
civil  g-overnment, 
97.  107, 
,,  besieged  by  Arabs 

and  evacuated  by 
Romans,  1 16. 
state  of,  at  close 
of  Roman  rule, 
117. 

allowance  of  corn 

to,  1 19. 

V.  Annona. 
Amen,  associated   with  Zeus, 

etc.,  133. 
'Amr,  Arab  general,  defeated 
Romans  at  Heliopolis, 
etc.,  1 15. 
,,     took  Babylon  and  Nik- 

iou,  1 16 
,,     made  terms  with  Cyrus, 
116. 

V.  Note  XVII.,  224. 
Anastasius,  reign  of,  103. 
Annona,  tax  for  allowance  of 

corn    made    to  Alexandria, 

119. 

V.  Note  XIX.,  227. 
Antinoopolis,  senate  at,  12. 

,,  founded  hy  Had- 

rian in  memory  of  Antinous, 
59- 

Antinous,  death  of,  59. 

V.  Note  XIII.,  220. 
Antoninus  Pius,  reign  of,  60. 

,,  visited  Alex- 

andria, 62. 
Aphrodite,  worship  of,  137. 
Apollinarius,    made  patriarch 
and  prefect  by  Justinian,  107. 
Apollo,  worship  of,  136. 


Arabia,  unsuccessfully  invaded 
by  ^lius  Gallus,  20. 
,,       trade  with,  v.  India, 
Homeritae,  Red  Sea. 
Arabs,  and  trade  with  India,  33. 
,,      revolt  of,  against  Per- 
sians, 114. 
,,      under  'Amr  defeat  Ro- 
mans at  Heliopolis,  115,  116. 
V.  Note  XVII.,  224. 
Arcadius,  reign  of,  97. 
Archephodos,  duties  of,  8. 
Archidikastes,     position  and 
duties  of,  4. 
,,  local  judge  of 

Alexandria,  1 1. 
V.  Note  I.,  196. 
Archives,  in  general  charge  of 
archidikastes,  6. 
,,       local,  kept  by  biblio- 

phylax,  7. 
,,       housing  of,  at  Alex- 
andria, 219. 
Archon,  of  Thebes,  12. 

V.  Note  VII.,  214. 
Ares,  worship  of,  137. 
Aristomachus,  defeated  Nubians 

and  Mauretanians,  iii. 
Arithmetikon,  house-tax,  121. 
Arius  and  Arian  controversy, 

88  et  seq.y  154. 
Arkarikarios,  position  of,  14. 
Arsinoe,  senate  at,  12. 
Art,  revival  of,  under  Hadrian, 
56. 

,,   low  level   of  style   of,  in 

Roman  Egypt,  162. 
Artemis,  worship  of,  136. 
Artemius,  condemned  to  death, 

92.  ^ 

Asklepios,  worship  of,  140. 
Assessment    of    farm  lands, 
118. 

Athanasius,  and  Arius,  88. 

,,         deposed   and  ban- 
ished, 89. 
,,         returned,  90. 
,,         again  deposed,  90. 
,,         and  Constantius,9i. 
and  Julian,  92. 


INDEX 


Athanasius  agfain  patriarch,  93. 
Athene,  worship  of  137. 
Augustus,  reasons  for  organisa- 
tion of  Eg-ypt  by,  2. 
,,        senate  at  Alexandria 
abolished  by,  11. 
reign  of,  15. 
Aurelian,  reign  of,  80. 

,,        Palmyrenes  expelled 
by,  80. 
defeated  Firmus,  80. 
Aureliujj,  Marcus,  reign  of,  62. 
,,  revolt  of  na- 

tive Egyp- 
tians under 
I  s  i  d  o  r  u  s 
against,  63. 
,,  and  revolt  of 
troops  under 
AvidiusCas- 
sius,  63. 
,,       visited  the 

East,  64. 
Aurelius   Theocritus,    v.  Note 

XV.,  222. 
Avidius  Cassius,  revolt  of,  63. 
Avillius    Flaccus,    rule   of,  as 
prefect,  28. 
„  ,,         disgrace  of, 

30. 

Axumitse,    treaties    with,  94, 
108. 

Babylon,  fortress  of,  rebuilt  by 
Turbo,  53. 
,,        taken  by  'Amr,  116. 
,,        adapted  for  monastic 

purposes,  156. 
,,        station  of  a  Roman 
legion,  169. 
Balbinus,  reign  of,  75. 
Basilicus,  expelled  Zeno,  102. 
Basilides  of  Alexandria,  Gnostic 

heresy,  152. 
Baths,  tax  on,  10. 

,,  sign  of  Greek  influence, 
160. 

Bes,  worship  of,  131. 
Bibliophylax,  position  andduties 
of,  6. 


Blemmyes,  joined  Palmyrenes 
and  threatened 
frontier,  79. 
,,  dominated  the  The- 

baid,  81. 
,,  driven  back  by  Pro- 

bus,  81. 
,,  subsidised  by  Dio- 

cletian, 86. 
,,  ravaged  the  Greek 

Oasis,  99. 
,,  defeated  by  Maxi- 

minus,  100. 
,,         treatment    of,  by 
Justinian,  no. 
Bonakis,     defeated  imperial 
troops,  112. 
defeated  and  slain 
by  Bonosus,  1 12. 
Bonosus,  victory  of,  over  Bona- 
kis, 1 12. 
,,       defeated  by  Niketas, 
113- 

Bucolic  troops,  revolt  amongst, 
63. 

V.  Note  XIV.,  221. 
Buddhism    and    Egyptian  re- 
ligions, 151. 
Byzantine  period,  change  in  or- 
ganisation 
during,  13. 
,,  officials  of, 

Note  VIII.,  215. 


CiESAREUM,  sign  of  Roman  in- 
,,  fluence,  160. 

,,         and  emperor- wor- 
ship, 149. 
Caligula,  reign  of,  28. 

,,       worshipped  by  Alex- 
andrians, 149. 
Canals,  care  of,  19,  82,  126. 
,,      from  Nile  to  Red  Sea, 

53-  .  rr. 

Capitolium,  sign  of  Roman  ni- 

fluence,  160. 
Caracalla,  gives  citizenship  to 
all  Egyptians,  11. 
,,         reign  of,  70. 


252 


INDEX 


Caracalla,  massacres  Alexan- 
drians, 71. 

Carinus,  reign  of,  82. 

Carriers,  receive  allowance  for 
transporting"  corn,  119. 

Cams,  reig-n  of,  82. 

Catholicus,  position  of,  13. 

Cattle,  taxes  on,  121,  124. 

Census,  ordered  by  prefect,  3. 
,,  received  by  strategoi, 
6. 

,,        royal   scribe  assisted 
in,  6. 

,,        collected    by  village 
scribe,  assisted  by 
laographoi,  8. 
,,       taken    every  fourteen 
years  for  purposes  of  taxa- 
tion, 122. 
Chalcedonian  decrees,  and  the 

Egyptian  Church,  103. 
China,  trade  with,  65. 
Christianity   in    Egypt,  intro- 
duced by  Mark, 
151- 

,,  decree   of  Theo- 

dosius  for,  96. 
,,  and  Egyptian  poli- 

tics, 76,  87,  88, 
96-107. 
liberty  of  religion 
granted  to  Chris- 
tians, 156. 
,,  and  union  of  civil 

and  religious 
powers,  153. 
and  influence  of 
Platonist  and  pagan  ideas, 
^55- 

V.  Heresies,  Monasticism, 
Persecutions,  Patriarchs, 
etc. 

Citizenship,  Alexandrian,  privi- 
leges of,  II. 
a  step  to  Roman, 

II. 

Claudius,  reign  of,  31. 
,,        and  Jews,  32. 

Alexandrian  mints 
under,  34. 


Claudius,  development  of  trade 
under,  38. 

Claudius  II.,  reign  of,  78. 

Coinage,  reopening  of  Alexan- 
drian mints  under 
Claudius,  and  gene- 
ral state  of  coinage 
up  to  time  of  Nero, 
34,  38. 

,,        revivalof  artistic  taste 
marked  in,  56. 
drop  in  standard  of, 
66. 

.,        further  deterioration 
of,  82. 

,,        reform  in,  introduced 

by  Diocletian,  86. 
,,        decrease  in,  95. 
V.  Note  IX.,  217. 
Coins,  representations  of  deities 
^  on,  133  eiseg. 
Comes,  and  control  of  troops, 
12. 

Commodus,  reign  of,  65. 

,,         Egyptian  trade 
under,  65,  66. 
Constans,  supports  Athanasius, 
90. 

,,        and  Constantius, 

91. 

Constans  II.,  reign  of,  116. 
Constantine,  relieves  Christians, 
88. 

and  Arian  contro- 
versy, 89. 
,,        relation     of,  with 
Christian  Churches  of  Egypt, 
89,  152. 

Constantinus  II.,  reign  of, 
"5- 

Constantius  II.,  deposes  Athan- 
asius, 90. 
,,  reign  of,  90. 

Convict  labour  in  quarries  and 

mines,  127. 
Coptic  remains,  iii. 
Copts,    go    over    to  Arabs, 

US- 
Cornelius  Gallus,  prefect,  sup- 
pressed revolt,  17. 


INDEX 


253 


Cornelius   Gallus,  recalled  by 

Augustus,  19. 
Corn  tax,  v.  Taxes,  and  Note 

XVIII.,  225. 
Council,  of  prefect,  4. 
Crops  raised  in  Eg-ypt,  165. 
Curiales  responsible  for  taxes, 

95.  125. 

Customs,  collected  by  farmers, 
10. 

,,       houses,  123. 

rates,  124. 
,,       stations,  123,  124. 
Cyril  of  Alexandria  and  Jews, 
98. 

,,  and  Orestes, 

99. 

Cyrus,  made  peace  with  Arabs, 
116. 

Decius,  reign  of,  76. 

,,       persecuted  Christians 
in  Egypt,  76. 
Deities,  local,  not  identified  with 
Greek  gods,  131. 
of  Fayum,  129. 
V.  Chapter  IX.  generally. 
Dckaprotos,  position  of,  10. 
Demeter,  worsliip  of,  138. 
Didius  Julianus,  reign  of,  67. 
Dikaiodotes,  position  and  duties 
of,  4. 

Diocletian,  reorganised  govern- 
ment, 12,  86. 

,,  reign  of,  84. 

,,  and   the  Thebaid, 

84. 

besieges  and  sacks 
Alexandria,  86. 
,,         and  coinage  reform, 
86. 

,,        and    persecution  of 
Christians,  87. 
Dioiketes,  position  of,  11. 
Dionysus,  worship  of,  137. 
Dioscorus,  patriarch  of  Alex- 
andria, excommunicated,  100. 
Dioskouroi,  worship  of,  139. 
Dodekaschoinoi,    occupied  by 
Roman  troops,  23. 


Domain-lands,  property  of  em- 
peror, 89. 
,,  administration 
of,  II,  13,  127. 
Domitian,  reign  of,  46. 

,,        recognition  of  local 
deities  under,  47. 
Domitius  Domitianus,  L.  (Achil- 
leus),  revolted  against  Dio- 
cletian, 86. 
Dux,  position  of,  1 2. 
,,     .^gypti    and  Byzantine 
officials.  Note  VIII.,  215. 
Dykes,  repair  of,  126,  165. 

Economic  conditions— 

During  first  century  of  Roman 

rule,  38. 
From  Severus  to  Diocletian, 
82,  83. 

Improvement  under  Diocle- 
tian, 94,  95. 

During  last  century  of  Roman 
occupation,  117. 
Eirenarchs,  duties  of,  8. 
Eirenophylax,  duties  of,  8. 
Elagabalus,  reign  of,  73. 
Elders,  position  and  duties  of,  7. 

,,       associated  in  police  ad- 
ministration, 8. 

,,  in  Byzantine  period,  13. 
Elesbaan,  king  of  Axum,  and 

Honieritae,  109. 
Embolator,  position  of,  14. 
Embole,  corn  tax  required  from 

villages,  119. 
Emperors,  worship  of,  149. 
Ephor,  position  of,  13. 
^^pibole,  corn  tax  {  —  Embole), 

119. 

Epimeletes,  position  of,  14. 
Epistatikon,  126. 

V.  Taxes. 
Epistrategos,  position  of,  4. 
,,  duties  of,  5. 

,,  aboHshed  by  Dio- 

cletian, 12. 
Epitropos,  position  of  imperial, 
1 1. 

,,         under  Diocletian,  13. 


254 


INDEX 


Estate-duties,  124. 

Ethnikos,  position  of,  14. 

Euschemones,  duties  of,  8,  9, 

Euthenia,  consort  of  Nilus,  wor- 
ship of,  147. 

Exactor,  position  of,  13. 

Exegetes,  position  of,  9. 
,,        at  Alexandria,  11. 

Export  and  import  duties,  122- 
125. 

Famine,  a  signal  for  disturb- 
ances, 50. 

Farmers,  difficulties  of,  during 
second  cent.  A.D.,  82. 
V.  Agriculture. 

Farmers  of  taxes,  position  of, 
10. 

V.  Taxes, 

Faustina,  wife  of  M.  Aurelius, 
intrigue  with  Avidius  Cassius, 

Fayum,  deities  of  the,  129. 

,,        customs,  dues,  etc.,  in 

the,  124. 
Firmus,  defeated  by  Aurelian, 

as   a    "Tyrant";    v.  Note 

XVI.,  223.' 
Florus     (Prefect),  compelled 

Blemmyes  to  agree  to  peace, 

100. 

Galea,  accession  of.  39. 

,,  murder  of,  41. 
Galerius,  reign  of,  88. 

,,         persecution  of  Chris- 
tians by,  98. 
Gallienus,  reign  of,  77. 

granted  liberty  of  re-, 
ligion  to  Christians,  152. 
Gallus,  reign  of,  76. 
Games,  in  Oxyrhynchos,  160. 
,,      privileges  of  victors  in, 
160. 

,,      "  Blues"  7^  "Greens," 
161. 

,,      the  racecourse,  160. 
village  festivals,  161. 
Garrison,  Roman,  reduced  by 
Tiberius,  24. 


Garrison,  withdrawn  for  Jew- 
ish war,  44. 
,,         further  reduced  by 
Trajan,  49. 

See  App.  I.,  169. 
Geometria,  estate  tax,  121. 
George  of  Cappadocia,  patri- 
arch, 91. 
murder  of,  92. 
George   the   Mukaukis,  Note 

XVII.,  224. 
Germanicus,  visited  Egypt,  26. 
Geta,  reign  of,  70. 
Ghizeh  Museum,  inscriptions  in, 

1 83  et  seq. 
Gnostic  heresy,  152. 
Gods,  worship  of,  128  et  seq. 
,,     joint  (double)  names,  133. 

GreekandEg3'ptian,  wor- 
shipped in  same  temple,  132, 
133. 

Goods,  rates  and  duties  on,  124. 
Gordianus  I.,  reign  of,  75. 
Gordianus  II.,  reign  of,  75. 
Gordianus,  III.,  reign  of,  75. 
Goths,  brought  into  Egypt,  96. 
Grapheion,  contracts  registered 
at,  8. 

Greek  deities,  identification  of, 
with  Egyptian  gods,  132. 
V.  Hellenic  Theology. 
Greeks,  and  Jews  in  Alexandria, 

32,  33.  54- 
,,      influence  ot,  in  Egyptian 
religious    systems,  128-132, 
141. 

Gregory  and  Athanasius,90,9i. 
Gymnasiarch,  position  of,  9. 

,,  atAlexandria,!  I. 

Gymnasium,  sports,  etc.,  160. 

,,  supplanted  by  the 

racecourse,  160. 

Hadad,   king   of  Axum,  and 

Romans,  108. 
Hades,  type  of  Sarapis,  140, 

141. 

Hadrian,  reign  of,  54. 

,,        and  Alexandrian  j^hi- 
losophers,  55. 


INDEX 


255 


Hadrian,  artistic  revival  under, 
56- 

and  Antinous,  59. 
visits   Egypt  second 
time,  59. 
Hadrianeion     at  Alexandria, 

Note  XII.,  219. 
Haroeris,  identified  with  Her- 

akles,  139. 
Harpokrates,  worship  of,  145, 
146. 

Helios,  worship  of,  136. 
Hellenic  Theology — 

and  Egyptian  religious  sys- 
tems, 128-132. 
worship   of  Zeus  (Amnion, 

etc.),  132-134- 
Greek  deities  worshipped  in 

Egypt,  132-141-  . 
Henotikon,  edict  published,  103. 
Hera,  worship  of,  135. 
Heraclius  I.,  reign  of,  113. 

,,  drove  Persians  out 

of  Egypt,  1 14. 
Heraclonas,  reign  of,  116. 
Herakleopolis,  senate  at,  12. 
Heresies,  Arian,  88  et  seq.,  154. 

Gnostic,  152. 
Hermanubis,  worship  of,  147. 
Hermes,  worship  of,  137. 

,,       Pautnuphis,  temple  to, 
at  Pselkis,  133. 
Hermopolis,  senate  at,  12. 

,,  custom-house  at, 

124. 

temple  of,  133. 
Heroopolis,  revolt  of,  17. 
Homeritce,  treaty  with,  94. 

asked  by  Anastasius 
to  attack  Persia, 
103. 

,,  second  embass}'  by 

Justinus,  104. 
,,  quarrel  of,  with  Axu- 

mitae,  108. 
subdued  by  Axumi- 

tae,  109. 
Horus,  worship  of,  133,  etc. 
House  property,  taxes  on,  121. 
Hygieia,  worship  of,  140. . 


Hypatia,  murder  of,  99. 
Hypomnematographos,  clerk  i)f 
city  at  Alexandria,  1 1 . 

Idiologos,  position  and  duties 

,  9- 

abolished  by  Dio- 
cletian, 13. 

:  Imperial    lands,    v.  Domain 
Lands. 

Imperial  treasury,  and  revenue 

from  Egypt,  1 18. 
Import  duties,  123,  124. 
Income-tax,  122. 
India,  trade  with,  through  Red 
Sea  ports  secured  by 
Government,  33. 
,,      duties  on   goods  from, 
through  Arab  ports,  34. 
,,       trade  with,  through  Axu- 

mitfe,  108. 
,,       development    of  trade 
with,  38-65. 
Industries   and  manufactures, 
1.63. 

Irrigation,  system  of,  improved 
under  Augustus,  19. 

V.  Agriculture  and  Canals. 
Isidorus,  revolt  of  native  Egyp- 
i      tians  under,  63. 

Isis,  worship  of,  142  et  seq. 
;  in  Rome,  47. 

,,    at  Tentyra,  149. 
,.    temple  of,  at  Philse,  de- 
[  stroyed  by  Justinian,  1 10. 

I     ,,    at  Oxyrhynchos,  159. 
j     ,,    associated  with  Sarapis  and 
Harpokrates  at  Alexan- 
I  dria,  140. 

,,  as  Nepherses  associated 
I      with  Soknopaios,  129. 

;  Jews,  in  Alexandria,  favoured 
by  Augustus,  16. 
,,  governedbyanethnarch, 
16. 

,,       rising  of  Greeks  against, 

under  Caligula,  29. 
,,       deprived  of  citizenship, 
I  29. 


256 


INDEX 


Jews,  send  embassy  to  Rome, 

provoke     riots,  under 

Claudius,  31. 
, ,      privileg-es  restored  to, 32. 
,,       Egyptian,  and  Palestine, 

35- 

,,  disturbances  between 
Greeks  and,  32,  33, 
52. 

revolt  of,  suppressed  by 
Turbo,  52. 
,,      expelled  by  Cyril,  105. 
,,      and   religious  matters, 
15^- 

Therapeutai,  sect  of,  151. 
John,  prefect  of  Alexandria,  de- 
posed and  reinstated, 
112. 

,,     of  Nikiou,  arrd  Arab  con- 
quest of  Egypt,  225. 
Jovian,  reign  of,  93. 
Julian,  reign  of,  91. 

,,     and  Arian  controversy, 
91,  92.  _ 
Julius -^milianus, nominated  em- 
perorbyAlex- 
andrians,  77. 
defeated,  78. 
V.  Note  XVI,,  223. 
Justinian,  reign  of,  106. 

and  Monophysites, 
107. 

,,        appointed  Apollina- 
rius  patriarch  and 
prefect,  107. 
and  monastic  estab- 
lishments, 107. 
,,        destroyed  temple  of 
Isis  at  Philae,  1 10. 
and  Alexandrian 
school  of  philosophy,  110. 
Justinus,  reign  of,  104. 

and  Homerit^e,  104. 
Justinus  II.,  reign  of,  110. 

Kandake,  queen  of  Ethiopians, 

23'. 

Katoikoi,  exempted  from  poll- 
tax,  122. 


Khem,  assimilated  with  Pan, 
133- 

Khnum,  assimilated  with  Zeus, 
133- 

Komarch,  position  of,  13. 
Koptos,  custom-house  at,  123, 
124. 

,,        worship  of  Osiris  at, 
147. 

Kosmetes,  position  of,  9. 
Kronos,  worship  of,  135. 
Kybele,  worship  of,  135. 
Kynopolis,  war  of,  with  Oxy- 
rhynchos,  47. 

Laographoi,  duties  of,  8. 
Legal  contracts,  fees  on,  124. 
Leo  I.,  reign  of,  loi. 
Leo  II.,  reign  of,  102. 
Lestopiastes,  position  of,  8. 
Librar}',  public,  of  Alexandria, 

Licinius,  reign  of,  88. 

, ,       defeats  Maximinus,  88. 
rivalof  Constantine,90. 
Liturgies,  hereditary  burden  of, 
and  exemptions 
from,  125. 
,,        of  repairing  dykes, 

etc.,  126. 
,,        of  collectingtaxes,  10. 
Local  government,  in  vilkiges,  7. 

,,  comparison 
of  ancient  with  modern.  Note 
IX.,  216. 
Logistes,  position  of,  13. 
Logos,  doctrine  of ;  Platonists 
of  Alexandria  and  develop- 
ment of,  155. 

Macrianus  I.,  reign  of,  77. 
Macrianus  II.,  reign  of,  77. 
Macrinus,  reign  of,  73. 
Manumission  of  slaves,  fine  on, 
124. 

Marcianus,  reign  of,  100. 

and  Alexandrian 
Church,  100. 
,,         sacked  Alexandria, 
101. 


INDEX 


257 


Mark,  and  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity into  Egypt,  151, 
Mary,   Egyptian   influence   on  i 

development  of  worship  of,  1 55. 
Mauretanians,  defeated  by  Aris- 

tomachus,  1 1 1. 
Maurice,  riots  in  reign  of,  112. 
Mavia,  queen  of  Saracens,  94. 
Maximinus,  reign  of,  75,  88.  ' 

persecution  of  Chris-  i 
tians  by,  88.  1 
Maximinus  (prefect),  defeat  of  j 
Blemmyes  by,  100.  ; 
Min,  Osiris  worshipped  as,  147.  i 
Monasticism,  influence   of  the  j 
desert  on,  151.  i 
,,  and  the   Thera-  ! 

peutai,  155,  I 
,,  and  the  Christian  ; 

Church  of  the  | 
Middle  Ages,  ! 
158. 

,,  whole  districts 

under  monas- 
tic vows,  104.  I 
monastic  corpora- 
tions, power 
of,  104,  105. 

.,  recognised  by  law, 

155- 

,,  monasteries  as 

refuges  and 
forts,  93,  107, 
156-158. 

as  refuges  of  over- 
burdened of- 
ficials, 95,  125. 

troops  quartered 
in,  126. 

the  Red  M.,  98. 

the    White  M., 

i57>  158. 
at    Nitriotis  de- 
stroyed, 97. 
,,  monks,  military 

service  and  lit- 
urgies, 93, 155. 
and  robbery  and  | 
expulsion  of  Alexandrian  mer-  ■ 
chants,  99.  i 

V— 17 


Monophysite  controversy,  107, 
155- 

Xaubion,  property-tax,  120. 
Naukratis,  senate  at,  12. 
Xero,  reign  of,  34. 

,,     and  conquest  of  Eastern 
provinces,  36. 

,,     recalled  legions,  39. 

,.     as   "Agathos  Daimon," 

149. 

Xerva,  reign  of,  48. 
Xicsea,  Council  of,  89. 
Xiketas,     defeated  Bonosus, 

,,  abandoned  Egypt  to 

the  Persians,  114. 
X'^ikiou,  taken  by  'Amr,  116. 
X'^ikopolis.  foundedby  Augustus, 
16. 

camp  of  Roman  gar- 
rison, 17. 
Nile,  worship  of,  connected  with 
Sarapis,  147. 
rise    of,    and    corn  tax. 
118. 

,,    trade,  custom-house  for,  at 
Syene,  123. 
Xit,  Athene  identified  with,  137. 
Xitriotis,    monasteries  of,  de- 
stroyed by  Theophilus,  97. 
Nobatfe,  invited  to   settle  on 
frontier,  86. 
,,        made  war  on  Blem- 
myes, 99. 
,,        punished    by  Maxi- 
minus, 100. 
Nomarch,  position  and  duties  of, 
6. 

Nubians,   defeated   by  Aristo- 
machus,  iii. 

Octroi,  customs  and  entrance 

dues,  123. 
Odsenathus,  prince  of  Palmyra, 

and  Romans,  78. 
Offices,  nominations  to  govern- 
ment and  local,super- 
vised  by  prefect,  3. 
,,      made  by  strategos,  5. 


258 


INDEX 


Offices,  returns  for,  supplied  by 

village  scribe,  8. 
Officials,  difficulties  of  position 

of,  95,  125. 
Ombos,  quarrel  of,  with  Ten- 

tyra,  47. 
Orestes  (prefect),  and  Cyril,  99. 
Osiris,  worship  of,  147. 

,,     Apis  (Sarapis),  140. 
Ostraka,  receipts  of  payments 

on,  122. 
Otho,  reig-n  of,  40. 
Oxyrhynchos,  senate  at,  12. 

,,  war  of,  with  Kyn- 

opolis,  47. 
life  at,  156,  is^et  | 

seq. 
papyri,  159. 
,,  churches,  tem- 

ples, public 
buildings,  etc., 
at,  159. 
,,  festivals, etc.,  i6o. 

PagARCH,  position  and  duties  of, 

,,       houseof  Flavius  Apion 
described  as,  14. 
Palestine,  Egyptian  Jews  and, 
35- 

Palmyrenes,    invaded  Egypt, 
78,  79- 

,,  and  Blemmyes  oc- 
cupied Upper 
Egypt,  and  part 
of  Alexandria,  80. 

,,  defeated  by  Aure- 
lian,  80. 

Pan,  assimilated  with  Khem, 
133- 

Panopolis,  temple  to  Pan- Khem 

at,  133. 
Paralemptes,  duties  of,  10. 
Patriarchs  of  Alexandria,  and 

civil  government,  97,  100,  106, 

107. 

Patronage,  in  villages,  95. 
,,        forbidden,  14. 
,,        patrons  and  village 
amusements,  161. 


Persecutions  by  Galerius  and 
Maximinus,  88. 
,,  by  Diocletian,  87, 

152. 

by  Decius  andVa- 

lerian,  76,  152. 
byChristians,  153. 
Persephone,  worship  of,  139. 
Persians,  and  Egyptian  trade, 
108,  109. 
.,       invaded  the  Delta,  103. 
took    possession  of 

Egypt,  114. 
expelled    by  Herac- 
lius,  114. 
,,       revolt    of  Arabs 
against,  114. 
Pertinax,  reign  and  murder  of, 
67. 

Pescennius  Niger,  declared  em- 
peror, 68. 
,,  defeated  by 

Severus,  69. 
Petesouchos,  worship  of,  131. 
Petronius,  C,  suppressed  rising 
of  Alexandrians, 
19. 

cleared  canals,  1 9. 
again  prefect,  21. 
defeated  Ethio- 
pians, 21. 
V.  Note  X.,  217. 
Phemnoeris,  deity  of  Fayum,  131. 
Philae,  temple  of  Trajan  at,  50. 
temple   of  Isis   at,  de- 
stroyed by  Justinian, 
110. 

fortifications  of,  renewed 
by  Theodorus,  no. 
Philip,  reign  of,  75. 
Philosophical   school  of  Alex- 
andria— 
Hadrian  and,  55,  56. 
Justinian  and,  110. 
Influence  of,  on  Jewish  writ- 
ings, 128. 
and  Christianity,  155. 
Philumenus,  plot  of,  90. 
Phocas,  revolt  against,  by  Her' 
aclius,  112. 


INDEX 


259 


Ph ylax,  position  and  dut  ies  of,  8. 
Pnepheros,  deity  of  Fayum,  131. 
Police,  under  prefect,  3. 

,,      duties  of  elders,  7. 

,,      local  officers  of,  8. 
Note  v.,  209. 
Poll-tax,  collected  by  praktores,  • 

9-  '  i 

,,        by  farmers,  10,  121.  1 
exemptions  from,  122.  | 
Poseidon,  worship  of,  135.  , 
Posting-  rig-hts,  claimed  by  offi- 
cials, 1280 
Praepositus  pagi,  position  of,  13. 
Praeses,  position  of,  12. 
Praktor, position anddutiesof, 9.  j 
,,       superseded  by  exactor 
in  Byzantine  period,  13. 
Prefect,  position  and  duties  of,  3. 
,,       changed    position  of, 
under  Diocletian,  12. 
,,       list     of     prefects  of 
Egypt,  176. 
v.  Delegation    of  Duties, 
Note  III.,  203. 
Priesthood,    Eg-yptian,  privi- 
leges of,  129-131. 
Probus,    defeated    by  Palmy- 
renes,  and  committed  suicide,  } 
79. 

Probus,  drove  back  the  Blem-  \ 
myes,  81.  i 
,,       named  emperor,  81. 
Pronoetes,  position  of,  14. 
Property,  taxes  on,  120. 
Proterius,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
100. 

Pylons,  occupied  by  monks,  156. 

QUADRARIUS,  position  of,  13. 
Quietus,  reig-n  of,  77. 
Quintillus,  reign  of,  80. 

Rates,  charged  on  passengers, 

goods,  etc.,  124. 
Red  Sea,  trade,  33. 

,,        suppression  of  piracy 
on,  34. 

,,        trade,   customs,  and  ' 
dues  on,  123,  124.  | 


Red  Sea,  devfjlopment  of  trade 
on,  38. 

Register  of  lands  under  culti- 
vation, 119. 
Registry  of  deeds,  etc..  Note 

IV.,  208. 
Rents,  land,  Note  XIX.,  228. 
Revenues,  collection  of,  etc.,  9. 

V.  Taxes. 
Roman   citizenship,  attainable 
through  Alex- 
andrian, 1 1. 
,,  granted  to  all 

provincials,  iii. 
Roman  influence,  on  Eg-yptian 
relig-ious  ideas, 
148. 

in  worship  of  the 
Emperors,  149. 
in  control  of  re- 
ligious   affairs    and  temple 
treasures,  149. 
Roval  scribe,  position  and  duties 
of,  6. 
list  of,  in  Herakleid 
division  of  Arsinoite  nome, 
202. 

Sabina,  wife  of  Hadrian,  visits 

Egypt,  59. 
Sahara,  custom-house  for  goods 

from  the,  124. 
Saracens,  incursion  of,  94. 

treaty  with,  94. 
Sarapis,  temple  at  Alexandria 
destroyed,  97. 
,.        worship  of,  140. 
,.        worshipped  at  Rome, 
47- 

,,        Isis  and  Harpokrates, 
140. 

,.        Hades  and,  140,  141. 
,.        Isis  and,  142. 
,,       temple    of,  at  Oxy- 
rhynchos,  159. 
Saturninus,  Note  XVI.,  223. 
Schedia,  customs  station  at,  124. 
Schnoudi,  information  regard- 
ing monasteries  in  Life  of,  104, 
158. 


26o 


INDEX 


Schnoudi,  and  pagan  property, 
153- 

Scribe,  royal,  6. 

village,  71. 
Sebek,  local  forms  of,  131. 

,,      worship  of,  133. 
Seed-corn,  supplied  by  the  au- 
thorities, 120. 
Selene,  worship  of,  136. 
Senate,    at   Alexandria,  abol- 
ished by  Augustus, 
II,  16. 
restored   by  Severus, 
1 1. 

at  Ptolemais,  Naukra- 
tis,  Antinoopolis, 
and  nome  capitals, 
12. 

,,        in    Byzantine  period, 

V.  Note  VI.,  212. 
Severus,    restored    senate  to 
Alexandria,  11,  7O0 
,,  defeated  Pescennius 

Niger,  69, 
Sinai,    Mount,    passes  under, 

guarded  by  monastery,  158. 
Sitologos,  collection  of  corn  tax 
by,  119. 

Slaves,  fine  on  manumission  of, 
124. 

Social  customs,  162. 
Sokanobkonneus,     deity  of 

Fayum,  131. 
Soknopaios,  worship  and  temple 
of,  129. 
,,  associated  with 

Isis  Nepherses, 
129. 

,,  priesthood  of,  130. 

Sokonpieios,   deity  of  Fayum, 
131. 

Sothiac   period,   completed  in 
first  year  of  Antoninus,  62. 

Souchos     (Sebek),     deity  of 
Fayum,  131. 

Stephanikon  (tax),  10,  122. 
V.  Note  XX.,  228. 

Stratcgos,  position  and  duties 
of,  5- 


I  Strategos,    superseded  in  By- 
zantine period,  13. 
,,         of  police  at  Alexan- 
dria, II. 
z'.  Notes,  200,  203. 
Sukatoimos,   deity  of  Fayum, 
131- 

Syene,  custom-house  at,  123. 

Tacitus,  reign  of,  80. 
Talmis,  temple  of,  18. 
Taxes,  supervised  by  prefect,  3. 
I  strategoi  responsible 

for  local,  6. 
,,      nomarchs  local  super- 
i  visors  of,  6. 

i        ,,      elders  intermediaries  in, 

I  7- 

,,      based  on  returns  of  vil- 
lage scribe,  8. 
,,      under  special  supervi- 
sion of  idiologos,  9. 
collected  by  praktores, 

9-    .  , 

I        ,,      by  epiteretai  and  para- 

lemptai,  10. 
,,      by  farmers,  10, 
,,      by  exactores,  13. 
,,       by  ethnikos  and  embo- 

lator,  14. 
,,      curiales  responsible  for, 

95- 

,,      annona,  1 19. 
j       ,,      bath  tax,  10. 
j        ,,       corn  tax,   10,  118,  119, 
225. 

,,  for  charitable  purposes, 
120. 

,,  naubion,  andgeometria, 
120. 

,,  on  house  property, 
arithmetikon,etc.,i2i. 

,,      on  cattle,  121,  124. 

,,      poll-tax,  121. 

,,      (exemptions),  122. 

,,  stephanikon,  10,  122, 
j  228. 

,,  special,  on  temple  pro- 
I  perty,  offerings,  etc.,  epista- 
!      tikon,  126. 


INDEX 


261 


Taxes,  customs   and  indirect, 

123,  124. 
Temples,    used    as  Christian 
churches,  97. 
, ,        joint  use  of,  by  native 
and    Greek  wor- 
shippers, 132. 
as  public  library  at 
Alexandria,  141. 
,,         taxes    on  property 
of,  126. 

Tentyra,  quarrel  of,  with  Om- 
bos,  47. 
gateway  of  Trajan  at, 
51- 

,,       temple  of,  19. 
Theatre,  sig^n  of  Greek  influ- 
ence, 160. 
Thebaid,  revolt  of,  in  time  of 
Augustus,  18. 
,,         ruled  by  dux,  12. 
,,         invaded     by  Blem- 
myes,  81. 
Thebes,  archon  at,  12. 

7'.  Note  VH.,  214. 
Theodosius  I.,  enforced  Chris- 
tianity, 96. 
Theodosius  II.,  reign  of,  98. 
Theophilus,  of  Alexandria,  de- 
stroyed monasteries  of  Nit- 
riotis,  97. 
Therapeutai,  Jewish  sect,  151. 

and  monasticism, 

Thoeris,  special  deity  of  Oxy- 

rhynchos,  159. 
Tiberius,  reign  of,  24. 

,,        and  unjust  taxation, 

Tiberius  11.,  reign  of,  iii. 
Timagenes,  invited  Palmyrenes 

to  enter  Egypt,  79. 
Titus,  and  Alexandrians,  44. 

,,     and  nations  of  the  Greek 

East,  46. 
Town    life     in  Oxyrhynchos, 

159- 

Trade  guilds,  163. 
Trade  routes,  19,  123. 
V.  Custom-houses. 


Trade    with    East,  developed 
under  Claudius,  33. 
,,        extended  to  China,  65. 
,,       controlled  by  Axumitae 
and  HomeritzE,  94. 
Trajan,  reign  of,  48. 

,,       reduced    Roman  gar- 
rison of  Egypt,  49. 
,,       temple  of,  at  Philae,  50, 
,,       cut  canal  from  Nile  to 
Red  Sea,  63. 
Triad  of  Alexandrian  deities, 

140  et  seg. 
Triakontaschoinoi,   under  Ro- 
I      man  protectorate,  19. 
I  Trinity,  doctrine  of  the,  Egyp- 
I      tian  influence  on  development 

I     9f>  155- 

j   Triptolemos,  worship  of,  139. 
]  Troops,    Roman,    in  Egypt, 
j  under  con- 

I  trol  of  pre- 

fect, 3. 

,  ,,         reduced  by 

Tiberius, 

I  f4- 

,,         reduced  by 
Trajan,  49. 
,,  withdrawn, 
117. 

,,  ,,        supplies  lor, 

126. 

Tyche,  worship  of,  149,  150. 
Tyrants,    Egvptian,    v.  Note 
XVL,  223.  ^ 

Vaballathos,  son  of  Zenobia, 
80. 

Valens,  reign  of,  93. 
,,       and  monks,  93. 
,,'      edict  of,  regarding  cu- 
rales,  95. 
Valerianus,  reign  of,  77. 
Vespasian,  proclaimed  emperor 
at  Alexandria,  41. 
expedition  of, 
I  against  Vitellius, 

41. 

,,         recognised  at  Rome, 
42. 


262 


INDEX 


Village,    council    formed  by 
elders,  7. 
,,         scribe,  position  and 

duties  of,  7. 
,,         amusements,  161. 
,,         lands  and  corn  tax, 

Vitellius,  proclaimed  emperor 
by  German  troops,  41. 

Wages    of    labourers,  etc., 
166. 

Watchmen,   assigned  to  tem- 


ples and  public  buildings 
159- 

Zabdas,  commander  of  Palmy- 
rene  army  invading  Egypt, 
79,  80. 

Zeno,  expelled  by  Basilicus,  102. 

,,     reign  of,  102,  103. 

,,     and  Henotikon,  103. 
Zenobia,  invasion  of  Egypt  by 

armies  of,  78-80. 
Zeus,    worship    of,    as  Zeus- 

Ammon,  etc.,  132-134. 


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